The Democratic Party's internal rift over Israel aid could signal a shift in U.S. foreign policy, affecting future Middle East strategies.

The post House vote on Israel aid to expose Democratic Party divisions appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The deal underscores the strategic shift towards leveraging sell-on clauses and global investment to maximize long-term financial returns in football.

The post Como signs Barcelona’s Andrés Cuenca for €700K in deal that highlights football’s evolving investment math appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Scaloni's dual focus on skill and resilience highlights a strategic depth that could influence coaching philosophies globally.

The post Argentina coach emphasizes need for skill and fight in World Cup semi-final appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Messi's enduring brilliance may reignite interest in fan tokens, but investors should be wary of repeating past boom-bust cycles.

The post Messi’s World Cup hat-trick ties all-time goals record as Argentina cruises past Algeria appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Eternal Fire's dominance in VCT EMEA could reshape competitive dynamics, highlighting the growing synergy between esports and crypto sectors.

The post Eternal Fire extends VCT EMEA lead as esports and crypto worlds inch closer together appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

President Trump To Meet Senators On Clarity Act’s Ethics Fight: Report

President Donald Trump plans to meet with a group of senators at the White House on Thursday afternoon to address the last major obstacle to the crypto market structure bill, according to people familiar with the plans that spoke to Politico and lawmakers involved in the talks.

The sticking point is the ethics section of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would restrict senior government officials from holding personal business interests in the crypto sector. Democrats have made such limits a condition of their support, in large part to address Trump’s own ties to the industry. 

Negotiators have not reached a compromise, and the Senate calendar leaves a narrow window.

Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican in the negotiations, said the senators will brief the president on the bill and its “path to success.”

“We’ll be talking about the entirety of the bill. I mean, obviously the president’s been very engaged in this bill,” Moreno said. “He’s the one who’s really driven the innovation that I think will pay dividends.”

Trump’s crypto disclosures as the Clarity Act teeters

Clarity’s fate may hinge on what Trump will accept, and on whether he will support a bill that restricts his own businesses. He has pressed the Senate to pass the legislation, though he has not stated which conflict-of-interest terms he will sign into law. His disclosure that he made more than $1 billion from crypto involvement in 2025 gave critics fresh ammunition.

The bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee in a 15-9 vote, with Democrats Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joining Republicans to advance it. Both said in May they would not back final passage without an ethics provision. During the committee markup, an amendment from Senator Chris Van Hollen to bar the president, vice president and members of Congress from crypto business ties failed 11-13.

On Tuesday, a group of Democratic senators held a press conference to call for opposition to Clarity if it does not sever what they term Trump’s “corrupt” ties to the sector. Gallego, who has led the ethics negotiation for months, was not among them.

Timing on the revised text remains open. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican and a chief architect of the bill, said a draft could circulate as soon as Wednesday, but that senators were weighing whether to include the ethics language or bracket it for later.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he hopes to bring the bill to the floor before the work period ends August 7. Asked whether he would hold a vote absent a deal with Democrats, Thune said, “at some point, we’ll vote on it, yeah.”

The chamber breaks for its summer recess after the first week of August, which opens a narrow stretch to finish Clarity before members turn to the November midterms. Galaxy Research put the odds of passage at 50-50 as the clock runs down.

This post President Trump To Meet Senators On Clarity Act’s Ethics Fight: Report first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Traders Took $8.2 Million From Polymarket’s Five-Minute Bitcoin Bets, Study Found

A new study argued that Polymarket’s five-minute Bitcoin contract became a machine for wealth transfer. It moved money from retail bettors to a small band of manipulators, and it made Bitcoin’s spot price worse in the process.

The paper, “Settlement Manipulation in Prediction Markets” by David Dai, Ruizhe Jia, and Shihao Yu of Stanford and Singapore Management University, studied a product that did not exist before February 12, 2026. 

On that date Polymarket launched a binary contract that paid $1 if Bitcoin closed a five-minute window above where it opened, and $0 otherwise. A fresh contract opened every five minutes around the clock. 

Within months, Polymarket’s five- and fifteen-minute crypto up/down markets traded more than $4 billion and tripled the platform’s daily volume. The flaw in polymarket was when the contract settled against a Chainlink oracle that averaged Bitcoin’s price across major spot exchanges. 

A trader who held the contract could buy or sell real Bitcoin in the closing seconds, drag that reference price across the strike, and win the bet.

The oracle’s blend of exchanges looked like a defense, because moving it seemed to require moving many venues at once. The authors showed it was not much of a defense. Binance, the largest crypto exchange, sat about two and a half basis points from the oracle and moved near one-for-one with it. It finished on the same side of the strike as the resolution about 85%of the time. A push that drove the Binance price a few basis points past the strike carried the outcome.

The pattern was in the Binance data. After the five-minute contract went live, net order flow in the final ten seconds before each close jumped about 50% above the pre-launch level. The spike was sharpest where a push mattered: in the 6% of cycles the market judged near-even, the jump was about 3.9 times the rest.

The reversal gave it away. Real information stays in a price; a manipulative push does not. Within ten seconds the price reverted, by about a quarter in the near-even cycles. The pushes clustered in thin hours, when a dollar of flow moved the price the most: 56% landed overnight and 44%on weekends.

Who won, who paid with these Polymarket bets

In near-even cycles, a push against the favored side flipped the winner 65% of the time, against 41% in normal trading. Even when one side held a 90-to-100% chance before the close, a push against it reversed the outcome 34% of the time, against 1% in cycles with no push. A bet the market treated as near-certain lost one time in three.

Because Polymarket settled on a public blockchain, the authors traced each wallet. Just 821 traders fit the manipulator profile, about one in three hundred of the 243,000 who traded the contract. They took $8.2 million in the pushed cycles and broke even in the rest. Of the losses, 93% fell on retail.

The authors ruled out hedging as the innocent explanation. A binary contract carried little exposure to hedge once one side was near-certain, yet those were the cycles a push flipped. And the trades arrived in one burst in the final fifty seconds, not as a position built over the window.

The remedy

The fix was the contract’s horizon. Manipulation was absent from the fifteen-minute contract, because a longer window took in more ordinary trading before the close and made a fixed push a weaker force. The stakes reached past crypto: Nasdaq and Cboe each filed with the SEC to list binary asset-price contracts on equity indices, which would carry the same risk onto larger markets.

This post Traders Took $8.2 Million From Polymarket’s Five-Minute Bitcoin Bets, Study Found first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Jumps Over $65,500 on Soft Inflation Data 

The Bitcoin price jumped over $65,500 on Wednesday after US inflation data showed that producer prices fell in June. 

Data from the Labor Department showed that the Producer Price Index posted its biggest decline in 14 months. The PPI, excluding food and energy, fell 0.3% in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. 

Bitcoin’s price was recently trading at $64,943, a 2% 24-hour jump. 

The Bitcoin price has typically surged when signs inflation is cooling emerge as investors then expect a bigger chance of lower interest rates. Crypto, stocks and other “risk-on” assets have in the past done well in a low-interest rate environment. 

Still, the cooling inflation does not take into account the latest escalation in the US-Iran war: President Trump this week said the US would take control over the Strait of Hormuz. 

On Wednesday, the US leader vowed to intensify the bombing until Tehran stops attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and agrees to open the waterway. 

“We’re going to hit [Iran] very hard the night after,” President Trump told Fox News on Tuesday. “And then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.”

“The only way you can negotiate with these people is through strength,” he added. 

Bitcoin’s price has faced increased volatility since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with the leading cryptocurrency dropping hard on initial reports of war.

Since the start of the year, the leading cryptocurrency has shed nearly 30% of its value, and is now close to 50% below the $126,080 record it notched in October. 

Downwards pressure has been added to the Bitcoin price as US investors fast cashed out of spot exchange-traded funds throughout the month of June as inflation uncertainties and a boom in artificial intelligence-related stocks has led speculators to put their cash elsewhere.

Bitcoin price jumps on cooler inflation numbers

Figures released on Tuesday from June’s Consumer Price Index also showed that inflation appeared to be easing in the US, also leading to a jump in the Bitcoin price. 

Over a seven-day period, Bitcoin’s price has traded from $61,507 to as high as $65,501. 

Traders are now keeping an eye on what new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh — who’s typically been an inflation hawk in the past — will do while leading the central bank. 

The new Chair told congress this week that the Federal Reserve has “no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” and that policy makers at the bank share “a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Kevin Warsh was sworn in as the new central bank chief in May. The former Federal Reserve governor has said he wanted to lower the cost of borrowing but markets initially priced him in as a hawk — someone who would raise interest rates to tackle inflation. 

At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is near $65,000.

This post Bitcoin Price Jumps Over $65,500 on Soft Inflation Data  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

VerifiedX and BitGo Sign MOU to Deliver Qualified Custody for vBTC, Expanding Institutional Access to Native Bitcoin Utility, and with Immediate Support for Non-Synthetic Canonical on Base

VerifiedX today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BitGo to provide qualified custody support for vBTC, with immediate support for vBTC.b, the non-synthetic canonical Bitcoin asset issued through the VerifiedX Network and deployed on Base. The partnership represents a significant milestone in bringing institutional-grade custody, compliance, and security standards to programmable Bitcoin while preserving direct redemption to native Bitcoin.

Under the agreement, institutions, asset managers, family offices, corporations, and professional allocators will be able to custody vBTC upon final integration and can now immediately custody vBTC.b through BitGo’s qualified custody infrastructure while accessing the utility of Bitcoin across decentralized finance, payments, collateralization, treasury operations, and on-chain vaulting with recovery features.

Unlike traditional wrapped Bitcoin products, vBTC.b is designed as a fully collateralized non-synthetic on-chain and consensus embedded Bitcoin token with native redemption built directly into the asset architecture without any counterparty or federation reliance. Holders can redeem directly back to Bitcoin without requiring the asset to first be unwound back through the VerifiedX network, creating a seamless institutional experience across Base and Bitcoin liquidity ecosystems.

“Institutions have consistently told us they want two things: qualified custody and non-synthetic productive Bitcoin,” said Jay Pollak, Head of Strategy at the VerifiedX Foundation. “This partnership delivers both. With BitGo’s best-in-class institutional custody infrastructure and vBTC.b’s native Bitcoin redemption model, allocators can maintain institutional-grade security while activating their Bitcoin across a growing ecosystem of applications and opportunities.”

Institutional Bitcoin Without Synthetic Risk

As Bitcoin continues to mature as a treasury and reserve asset, institutions increasingly seek ways to generate utility from their holdings without sacrificing security, transparency, or redemption certainty.

vBTC.b addresses these requirements through a framework that combines:

• Native Bitcoin
• Direct Bitcoin redemption
• Qualified custody support
• Institutional-grade compliance tooling
• On-chain transparency
• Self-custodial programmability
• Cross-ecosystem interoperability

The result is an asset that enables institutions to move beyond passive Bitcoin ownership and participate in productive and programmable financial infrastructure while maintaining real native ownership to the underlying Bitcoin asset.

Activating Bitcoin Capital

Through vBTC.b, institutions can utilize Bitcoin across a broad range of applications including:

• Curated institutional yield vaults
• Bitcoin-backed lending and borrowing
• Treasury optimization
• Digital collateral management
• Settlement infrastructure
• Automated payment workflows
• Agentic and AI-powered financial systems
• Cross-chain liquidity deployment
• Bitcoin-native commerce and payments

Because vBTC.b remains redeemable to Bitcoin at the protocol level, institutions can maintain confidence that utility does not come at the expense of redemption rights or trade-offs, while reducing counterparty risks and smart contract vulnerabilities, and eliminating rehypothecation at the protocol level.

Security and Compliance First

The partnership combines VerifiedX’s programmable Bitcoin infrastructure with BitGo’s industry-leading custody platform.

BitGo currently safeguards more than $49 billion in Bitcoin under custody, with an overall estimate of digital asset custody levels exceeding $100 billion during peak periods, making it one of the largest digital asset custodians globally. The company provides regulated qualified custody services, institutional security controls, cold storage infrastructure, and insurance protections utilized by some of the world’s largest digital asset participants.

VerifiedX complements this foundation through integrated compliance tooling, transaction monitoring capabilities, auditability features, and institutional controls designed to satisfy modern operational and regulatory requirements.

Building the Financial Operating System for Bitcoin

The BitGo relationship represents another step in VerifiedX’s mission to build the financial operating system for Bitcoin and intelligent assets.

Through the VerifiedX ecosystem, Bitcoin can be transformed from a passive store of value into a programmable financial asset capable of supporting payments, lending, settlement, collateralization, tokenization, AI-driven automation, and next-generation financial infrastructure.

As institutions increasingly seek secure native plumbing to deploy Bitcoin capital, the combination of BitGo qualified custody and vBTC.b provides a framework designed to meet institutional standards without sacrificing Bitcoin’s core principles of ownership, redemption, and utility.

Additional details regarding custody availability, onboarding, and supported institutional products will be announced as the partnership progresses.

About VerifiedX

VerifiedX is a financial operating system for Bitcoin and intelligent assets, enabling self-custodial ownership, instant settlement, programmable finance, native Bitcoin utility, and agentic financial infrastructure. Through products including vBTC, BFLY, and PulseXAI, VerifiedX connects institutions, users, and autonomous systems through a unified blockchain ecosystem framework.

Its ecosystem includes:

• vBTC & vBTC.b (BTC)
• BFLY payments and click to earn infrastructure
• SwitchBlade wallet technology
• PulseXAI generative and tokenized intelligence 
• Institutional settlement architecture
• Privacy-enabled transactions and programmable assets
• Canonical interoperability systems

 Further VerifiedX Inquiries:

Website: https://verifiedx.io/

Discord: https://discord.gg/7cd5ebDQCj

Twitter (X)): https://twitter.com/vfxblockchain

Github: https://github.com/verifiedxblockchain

Email: info@verifiedx.io

PulseXAI and BFLY are trademarks of VerifiedX. Copyright 2026 VerifiedX. All rights reserved.

This post VerifiedX and BitGo Sign MOU to Deliver Qualified Custody for vBTC, Expanding Institutional Access to Native Bitcoin Utility, and with Immediate Support for Non-Synthetic Canonical on Base first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin Magazine

Japan’s Landmark Vote Reclassifies Bitcoin And Crypto As Financial Assets

Japan’s parliament passed an amendment on Wednesday that reclassifies cryptocurrency as a “financial asset,” a shift that pulls bitcoin and other digital assets out of the country’s payments regime and into the framework that governs stocks, bonds, and investment trusts, according to a report from public broadcaster NHK.

The change strips crypto of its prior status under the Payment Services Act, where regulators treated it as a means of settlement, and folds it into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), the same statute that oversees traditional securities. 

The amendment moves bitcoin and other crypto under a single investor-protection standard. NHK reports the change takes effect within a year, with a target of fiscal 2027.

Japan’s new authority over bitcoin and the crypto asset class

Japan’s cabinet first approved this measure as a draft amendment in April 2026, but that step only sent the bill toward the Diet for debate. Wednesday’s vote marks the final enactment into law, alongside formal approval of a separate plan to cut the top tax rate on crypto gains from 55% to a flat 20% starting in 2028.

The move rewires how Japan supervises the asset class. As financial instruments, crypto assets now fall under insider-trading rules that bar issuers, exchange operators, and other parties with access to non-public information from trading ahead of events such as token listings, delistings, or major technical incidents.

Exchanges face new disclosure obligations. Platforms must publish data on each token’s issuer, blockchain design, and volatility profile, a standard that mirrors the reporting demands placed on securities firms. Regulators also gain broader market-surveillance authority over the sector, according to local reports. 

Penalties climb under the new law. The maximum prison term for unregistered crypto operators rises from three years to 10, while the top fine increases from 3 million yen to 10 million yen, near $62,000. The tougher enforcement signals a move to treat crypto misconduct with the same severity as securities fraud.

A path to bitcoin ETFs and a tax cut

The reclassification carries two consequences that reach beyond compliance. First, it opens a path for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Because FIEA governs the products that funds can hold, moving crypto under its umbrella removes a structural barrier that kept Japanese asset managers from launching regulated bitcoin ETFs.

Second, it clears the way for a tax overhaul. Japan taxes crypto gains as miscellaneous income at rates that reach 55 percent, among the steepest treatment in any major market. Lawmakers approved a plan to cut the top rate to a flat 20 percent, a level that matches the tax on stock gains. The reduction, tied to the 2026 Tax Reform Outline, activates in 2028.

The reforms arrive as Japan accelerates a broader Web3 push and as regulators weigh reserve requirements for exchanges that resemble the buffers held by securities firms. User accounts on Japanese exchanges have grown, and domestic crypto firms are positioning for a wider base of retail investors.

For an industry that has long viewed Japan as an early and cautious mover, the vote marks a decisive turn toward legitimacy. 

The country that once served as a template for crypto regulation is now aligning digital assets with its capital markets, a decision that could pressure other jurisdictions to follow.

This post Japan’s Landmark Vote Reclassifies Bitcoin And Crypto As Financial Assets first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

In June, Morgan Stanley received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank for digital assets.

The OCC decision opened a path for Morgan Stanley Digital Trust to bring custody, transaction administration, fiduciary staking, and collateral support inside the firm.

The proposed subsidiary would serve Morgan Stanley Wealth Management clients. Its public application presents it as a wholly owned national trust bank, giving the firm a regulated vehicle for functions that separate specialist providers have often handled.

The OCC's application record classifies the filing as a new bank charter under a holding company with trust powers requested.

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The proposed services cover everything from safeguarding assets to running the day-to-day operations behind an institutional account. It covers custody, purchases, sales, swaps and transfers, fiduciary staking, and collateral administration supporting affiliate digital-asset lending.

With final approval and implementation, Morgan Stanley could retain customer assets, transaction administration, staking administration, and lending-collateral work within its group.

That shift puts crypto-native intermediaries under fresh pressure. Third-party custodians, staking administrators, and collateral-service providers face the clearest exposure where their products overlap with the trust bank's approved functions.

Bringing those controls in-house at Morgan Stanley could make outside firms less central to client relationships and daily operational workflows around digital assets. It could also reduce the number of handoffs among the teams safeguarding assets, administering staking and managing collateral, concentrating more of the service relationship in one Wall Street group.

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Several layers would still sit beyond the defined trust-bank plan. Access to execution venues, trading liquidity, lending counterparties, validator operation, and broader blockchain infrastructure each involve their own relationships and implementation choices. The OCC filing shows what Morgan Stanley wants to keep inside the bank, while outside firms can continue handling the rest.

The approval still comes with hurdles. Morgan Stanley Digital Trust needs at least $50 million in Tier 1 capital, a set pool of liquid assets, and enough liquidity to cover 180 days of operating costs, according to Corporate Decision 1378. The OCC application record lists the charter action as approved on June 18.

Final approval would let Morgan Stanley pull custody, transfers, fiduciary staking and collateral support for affiliate lending under one roof. Crypto-native providers would then have to show where they still add value once a Wall Street bank keeps the most important control points for itself.

The post How Morgan Stanley plans to bring crypto custody, staking and lending support in-house appeared first on CryptoSlate.

New York has become the first US state to impose a statewide moratorium on large new data centers, creating an early regulatory test for Bitcoin miners that are rebuilding their businesses around artificial intelligence.

On July 14, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order directing state regulators to pause incomplete permit applications for new or expanding data centers capable of consuming at least 50 megawatts of power. The temporary halt will remain in effect while officials study the projects’ effects on electricity demand, water supplies, air quality, noise, and surrounding communities.

Applications declared complete before the order can continue, while local permits remain outside its scope. The measure therefore stops a portion of the development pipeline rather than every data-center project planned or under construction in New York.

New York’s new action follows a regulatory model the state previously applied to Bitcoin mining. In 2022, the state imposed a two-year moratorium on certain air permits for fossil-fuel power plants supplying electricity directly to proof-of-work mining operations while officials conducted an environmental review.

The latest order expands the state’s scrutiny from a narrow group of crypto facilities to large computing projects that serve AI, cloud services, and other digital businesses.

While Bitcoin mining is absent from the current order, the facilities it covers closely resemble the infrastructure that an increasing number of miners hope to operate.

Over the past year, public BTC mining companies have been converting sites built around large power connections, substations, and industrial land into campuses capable of hosting the graphics processors used for AI.

New York’s action therefore introduces a potential obstacle for an industry seeking to reduce its exposure to Bitcoin prices and the worsening economics of producing the cryptocurrency.

BTC miners have tied their next growth cycle to AI

Bitcoin miners have committed billions of dollars to AI infrastructure, seeking more predictable revenue from the power-rich sites originally built to produce the top crypto.

Publicly traded miners have announced more than $70 billion in contracts to host AI and high-performance computing workloads. Matthew Kimmell, an investment strategist at CoinShares Valkyrie, estimated that AI could generate roughly 80% of public miners’ revenue by the end of 2026.

The opportunity is being driven by an unprecedented expansion in technology spending. Goldman Sachs estimates that annual AI capital expenditure could reach $765 billion in 2026 and rise to $1.6 trillion by 2031 as companies invest in data centers, chips, power generation, transmission infrastructure and cooling systems.

Bitcoin miners are positioned to supply some of the most constrained parts of that buildout. Many of these firms already control industrial land, large electricity allocations, energized substations and grid connections that can take years for new developers to secure. They also have experience operating power-intensive computing facilities around the clock.

Keel Infrastructure, formerly known as Bitfarms, illustrated the scale of the transition this week after officials in Sherbrooke, Quebec, conditionally approved a land sale tied to its proposed C$1.8 billion high-performance computing campus.

Keel plans to consolidate 96 megawatts of electricity currently distributed across three Bitcoin-mining facilities into a single AI data-center site. The company has made high-performance computing its primary growth business and plans to continue operating its remaining Bitcoin mines as long as they remain profitable or until the sites are needed for redevelopment.

The transition requires more than replacing one type of computer with another. The specialized machines used to mine Bitcoin generally cannot process AI workloads, forcing operators to install advanced graphics processors, networking equipment, backup power systems, and more sophisticated cooling infrastructure.

Miners are accepting those costs because AI contracts can run for 10 years or longer, offering revenue visibility that Bitcoin mining cannot provide. Mining income fluctuates with cryptocurrency prices, network competition, and periodic reductions in the block reward.

Those pressures intensified during the past year as CoinShares estimated that the average cash cost of producing one Bitcoin among publicly traded miners rose to about $79,995 in the fourth quarter of 2025, while revenue earned from each unit of computing power fell near multiyear lows.

AI, therefore, offers miners a way to convert electricity capacity into contracted infrastructure revenue.

Data center backlash spreads beyond New York

Meanwhile, the earnings opportunity that is drawing Bitcoin miners into AI is facing a widening political backlash as lawmakers respond to the electricity, water, and infrastructure demands of large data centers.

A Gallup survey conducted in March found that 71% of US adults opposed the construction of an AI data center in their local area, with 48% strongly opposed. About 70% said they were concerned about the facilities’ environmental effects.

Resource consumption was the most common source of opposition. Half of respondents who opposed local development cited excessive use of electricity, water, or other resources, while others raised concerns about pollution, higher utility bills, traffic, and the effects of large campuses on surrounding communities. Supporters most often pointed to potential jobs, tax revenue and broader economic benefits.

That public unease is beginning to shape legislation.

Lawmakers in 15 states had considered data-center moratoriums as of July 1, the National Conference of State Legislatures said, with proposals still under consideration in Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont.

Pennsylvania lawmakers proposed a three-year pause accompanied by studies of the industry’s economic and environmental effects. A South Carolina bill would suspend local approvals until lawmakers establish a statewide oversight framework, while Vermont legislators proposed restricting new development until 2030.

The movement has also reached the US Congress, where Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York unveiled the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act in March.

The proposal would halt the construction and expansion of AI data centers until the federal government adopts protections covering utility customers, workers, civil rights and the environment.

Still, most state efforts have yet to produce binding restrictions. Maine’s governor vetoed an 18-month moratorium, while proposals failed in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Those outcomes show that opposition has spread more quickly than statewide restrictions.

New York has now broken that pattern. Its action provides lawmakers elsewhere with a working model for restricting development while regulators study electricity costs, water consumption, and local infrastructure demands.

Wider moratoriums could raise the cost of BTC miners’ AI pivot

If other states follow New York, Bitcoin miners could feel the financial effects before regulators permanently reject a single data-center project.

Temporary permitting pauses can delay construction milestones, customer payments and the retirement of less-profitable mining equipment. They can also increase financing costs as operators continue servicing debt raised for AI projects that have yet to generate revenue.

The scale of the required investment leaves limited room for prolonged disruption. CoinShares estimates that Bitcoin-mining infrastructure typically costs about $700,000 to $1 million per megawatt, compared with roughly $8 million to $15 million per megawatt for AI facilities.

The difference reflects the advanced cooling, networking, backup generation and reliability standards demanded by AI customers. Bitcoin mines can reduce operations when electricity prices rise, or grids become strained, while AI tenants generally require near-continuous power and tighter service guarantees.

Miners unable to complete conversions on schedule could remain dependent on Bitcoin production for longer than planned. Their revenue would continue to fluctuate with the cryptocurrency’s price, transaction fees and network competition while capital remains tied to unfinished AI projects.

A wider set of restrictions could also narrow the number of jurisdictions available for development. Fewer viable sites would strengthen the negotiating position of utilities and local governments, which could demand larger contributions toward grid upgrades, taxes and community benefits.

New York’s order provides an early indication of how those additional costs could be imposed.

Hochul directed regulators to consider creating a Grid Acceleration Fund financed through upfront contributions from data-center developers. The money could support transmission upgrades, clean electricity generation, battery storage and protections against projects that fail to reach their proposed size.

The order also calls for a beneficiary-pays system that would place grid and infrastructure costs on the large customers creating them. Regulators may establish separate electricity-service classifications and require data centers to finance dedicated generation or storage capacity.

Those measures could increase the amount miners must invest before an AI facility begins producing revenue. Existing access to land, substations and power would remain valuable, but control of a grid connection may no longer shield developers from the broader cost of serving a large campus.

Companies with geographically diverse portfolios could redirect capital toward regions offering faster approvals and greater access to power, though a widening patchwork of state restrictions would make that flexibility more expensive.

As a result, BTC miners could face longer development timelines, higher infrastructure contributions and a smaller pool of locations capable of supporting large AI campuses.

The post Bitcoin miner AI pivot hits roadblock with New York 50 MW permit freeze appeared first on CryptoSlate.

CleanSpark has signed a 20-year AI infrastructure lease, but still needs to finance an estimated $1.75 billion to $2.10 billion data center build.

The Bitcoin miner and data center developer entered a 20-year triple-net lease for 175 megawatts of critical IT load at its Sandersville, Georgia, campus on July 10. CleanSpark disclosed the agreement in a Form 8-K on July 14 and estimates that the initial term will have a contract value of $6.6 billion and contribute about $330 million in average annual net operating income.

CleanSpark's estimate of $10 million to $12 million in landlord project costs per MW implies a $1.75 billion to $2.10 billion build.

That range exceeds the $260.3 million of cash and $925.2 million of company-defined Bitcoin HODL value reported as of March 31, 2026, even when the two figures are added together. The HODL measure includes current and noncurrent Bitcoin, as well as Bitcoin held by counterparties under collateral arrangements, a composition distinct from that of unrestricted cash.

The July lease announcement identifies no lender, committed financing amount, pricing, sponsor equity contribution, or draw schedule. Phased delivery is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027, while the full delivery and rent-commencement schedules remain undisclosed. CleanSpark says the anonymous tenant's high-investment-grade credit profile facilitates access to financing. The eventual terms will determine whether the project is funded mainly against the lease or pushes more leverage, dilution or Bitcoin-collateral risk onto the company and its shareholders.

What CleanSpark actually signed

The Sandersville agreement is a binding infrastructure lease covering 175 MW, with annual escalators, a 20-year initial term and two optional five-year extensions. The tenant is described only as a high-investment-grade global technology company, with its identity undisclosed.

CleanSpark estimates $6.6 billion in contract value during the initial term and up to $11.6 billion if both five-year options are exercised. The initial signed term remains $6.6 billion; reaching $11.6 billion requires exercise of both options.

Calling it a triple-net lease does not mean CleanSpark is also on the hook to build the project. The 8-K states that the tenant bears the costs, charges, indemnities, and expenses specified in the lease. CleanSpark separately estimates the landlord project costs at $10 million to $12 million per MW in the SEC-filed release, resulting in a calculated range of $1.75 billion to $2.10 billion for 175 MW.

The contract value is spread over years, while the estimated NOI remains prospective. A phased construction program may also not require the entire project cost upfront. The figures establish the scale of the obligation without revealing when each dollar must be funded.

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The funding paths move risk differently

CleanSpark's fiscal second-quarter results show why Sandersville needs funding that matches the scale of the build.

As of March 31, the company reported $260.3 million in cash, $925.2 million in HODL value, $1.788 billion in long-term debt, and $1.927 billion in total liabilities. The calculated Sandersville cost is approximately 6.7 to 8.1 times the dated cash balance, 1.9 to 2.3 times the HODL value, and roughly 98% to 117% of long-term debt. These figures show that the project is simply too big for CleanSpark to fund with its existing cash.

CleanSpark also reported a $378.3 million net loss for the quarter ended March 31. The figure included a $224.1 million Bitcoin fair-value loss and a $38.8 million loss on Bitcoin collateral, according to its SEC-filed earnings release. Those market-linked items can significantly affect the reported balance sheet, making the net loss a poor proxy for quarterly cash burn.

Bitcoin remains a potential source of liquidity, collateral, or sale proceeds, depending on how much is encumbered and the level of exposure the company wants to retain. Coins pledged to a lender cannot also function as an unencumbered reserve. CryptoSlate previously examined how collateral-held Bitcoin complicates the liquidity implied by CleanSpark's headline HODL figure.

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One plausible scenario is project financing built around the site and its tenant-backed lease. CleanSpark says the tenant's credit profile facilitates financing options, and a long-duration lease may provide lenders with a contractual cash-flow basis for underwriting construction. The protections would depend on the actual package: sponsor guarantees, corporate recourse, Bitcoin collateral, or a large sponsor equity commitment could move risk back to CleanSpark.

The lease ties financing directly to CleanSpark's ability to deliver the project. CleanSpark's 8-K states that the company must meet applicable financing, construction, and delivery milestones, as well as other covenants and conditions. Miss a milestone and the rent could shrink or disappear entirely, leaving the project's financing tied to CleanSpark keeping the lease on track.

Funding Sandersville through CleanSpark's corporate balance sheet would expose shareholders more directly to the cost. Additional corporate debt would raise leverage from a March 31 base of nearly $1.8 billion in long-term debt. New common equity or equity-linked securities could dilute existing holders. Bitcoin sales would reduce treasury exposure and the asset base investors may count as liquidity. Bitcoin-backed borrowing could preserve nominal coin ownership while adding collateral, margin, and liquidation risk.

CleanSpark's $1.769 billion net carrying balance for zero-coupon convertible notes represents outstanding debt. Its $400 million in unused Bitcoin-backed credit lines were undrawn as of March 31 and require Bitcoin collateral. CryptoSlate's coverage of the 2025 convertible financing gives context for the corporate route, while Hut 8's AI landlord model illustrates how project debt and Bitcoin-backed bridge capital can coexist. CleanSpark's eventual structure remains an open question.

The tenant's credit profile may support project financing, but the eventual pricing, recourse, collateral, and equity requirements will determine how much risk remains with CleanSpark.

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Why the $6.6 billion value remains conditional

The $6.6 billion headline still comes with strings attached. The financing, construction, delivery, and other milestones and covenants disclosed in the 8-K link the revenue opportunity to CleanSpark's ability to execute. The remedies are conditional: the filing states that applicable failures may result in rent abatements or termination.

The timeline adds another catch. CleanSpark expects phased deliveries to begin in Q4 2027. It has not disclosed how quickly the full 175 MW will follow, when rent begins for each phase, or whether the stated average annual NOI reflects a fully delivered campus. Using $330 million as a run-rate from the first day of Q4 2027 would overstate the disclosed timing.

The Texas deal is not part of CleanSpark's signed contract pipeline. The same tenant executed a letter of intent and exclusivity agreement covering CleanSpark's 718-acre Texas portfolio and up to 885 MW of what CleanSpark describes as secured and planned power capacity. That arrangement is not a completed lease.

Sandersville has advanced CleanSpark from an AI infrastructure pitch to contracted execution, while the decisive capital terms remain undisclosed.

The financing terms and the path to Q4 2027 will reveal who is really carrying the risk: CleanSpark's Bitcoin holdings, its balance sheet, or its shareholders.

The post Bitcoin miner CleanSpark signed a $6.6B AI lease before securing the $2.1B required to build it appeared first on CryptoSlate.

BitMine's push to turn one of the world's largest corporate Ethereum holdings into a source of recurring income generated nearly $46 million from staking last quarter.

Yet a $92.1 million options loss overwhelmed those gains, while rising treasury costs and aggressive share issuance further weakened the economics for existing shareholders.

For the fiscal third quarter ended May 31, the firm reported that revenue surged to $46.5 million from $2.1 million in the same period a year earlier. Approximately 98%, or $45.7 million, came from staking and validation as BitMine accelerated its shift away from Bitcoin mining and toward an Ethereum-focused treasury model.

Despite that growth, the company posted an $83.6 million net loss, compared with a $623,000 deficit during the comparable quarter last year.

Options losses erase BitMine's early Ethereum staking gains

The largest immediate drag on BitMine's quarterly performance was the company's options strategy.

BitMine recorded a $92.1 million loss on Ethereum-linked derivatives during the quarter, roughly twice the revenue generated by its staking operation over the same three months.

The company attributed $78.6 million of the loss to the net impact of option contracts that expired during the period, while another $14 million was attributable to exercised positions. A $534,000 gain on contracts that remained open provided only a small offset.

BitMine had no derivatives activity during the comparable quarter last year, marking a sharp change in the risk profile of its treasury operations.

Over the first nine months of the fiscal year, derivative losses totaled $133.3 million. That included $79.3 million in losses from exercised contracts and $54.5 million from expired positions, partly offset by a $515,000 gain on open contracts.

Over the same period, BitMine generated $56.9 million from staking and validation. The derivatives losses were therefore more than twice the income produced by staking ETH to help validate transactions on the Ethereum network.

BitMine said its strategy consisted primarily of selling put options as part of its broader treasury-management program.

Such contracts can generate premium income or facilitate asset purchases, but they can also create significant losses when market prices move against the seller, or contracts are settled under unfavorable conditions.

The scale of BitMine's losses suggests that its attempt to generate additional returns from options has so far offset the income from its validation infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the firm's general and administrative expenses also climbed to $37.3 million from $744,000 a year earlier. Management attributed the increase largely to digital-asset custody and treasury-management fees, higher salaries, and increased cash and stock-based compensation for directors.

Staking revenue still covered the company's quarterly cost of sales and administrative expenses before digital-asset valuation changes. Even after excluding several noncash items, BitMine’s own non-GAAP calculation showed an adjusted net loss of about $70.8 million.

That distinction is central to the filing. The validation business has begun generating meaningful recurring revenue, but the broader treasury strategy has consumed those gains.

BMNR equity sales turn treasury growth into shareholder dilution

BitMine's rapid accumulation of Ethereum was financed primarily through public equity markets, placing most of the funding burden on common shareholders.

During the nine months ended May 31, the company sold approximately 340.7 million BMNR shares through its at-the-market program, raising $11.87 billion after issuance costs. Over the same period, BitMine spent about $11.69 billion purchasing ETH.

The resulting dilution was substantial. Outstanding common shares increased by 149% over nine months, from 232.4 million on Aug. 31, 2025, to 579.7 million at the end of May, 2026. The share count continued to climb after the quarter, reaching 603.2 million by July 9.

As of May 31, this equity-funded expansion allowed BitMine to accumulate 5.42 million ETH with a cumulative cost basis of $19.05 billion. The company's ETH holdings have expanded to 5.7 million ETH as of press time.

Meanwhile, the total holdings were valued at $10.86 billion on May 31, leaving the position approximately $8.2 billion, or 43%, below cost at quarter-end.

That decline drove most of the company's $9.04 billion unrealized digital-asset loss during the first nine months of the fiscal year. BitMine posted a total net loss of $9.1 billion for the period.

The scale of the markdown highlights the exposure shareholders assumed as BitMine issued stock to acquire ETH at prices well above its May 31 carrying value.

Still, the company's shareholders approved an increase in the authorized common shares from 500 million to 50 billion in January.

While the authorization does not require BitMine to issue the full amount, it gives management substantial capacity to continue raising equity for digital-asset purchases and other investments.

BitMine warned that its ability to expand the treasury depends partly on continued access to capital markets. A decline in ETH, a fall in BitMine's share price, or weaker investor demand could make additional financing more expensive or restrict the company's ability to issue securities on favorable terms.

The model therefore depends on more than staking yields and eventual Ethereum appreciation. It also requires shareholders to remain willing to finance further accumulation despite rapid dilution and a treasury position carrying a multibillion-dollar unrealized loss.

Long-term contracts raise the cost of producing ETH yield

As BitMine expands staking to offset treasury volatility, the agreements supporting those operations add fixed and revenue-linked expenses that narrow the strategy's economics.

The company recorded $12.8 million in quarterly expenses under a 10-year consulting agreement with Ethereum Tower, a third-party service provider that provides consulting, asset management, custody, and staking services.

That amount was equal to roughly 28% of the staking and validation revenue generated during the period.

Expenses under the agreement reached $37.5 million during the first nine months of the fiscal year. BitMine expects the annual cost to range from $40 million to $50 million, based on a tiered fee calculated against the value of digital assets under management.

The agreement is noncancelable except under limited circumstances. If BitMine terminates it without cause, the company could be required to pay Ethereum Tower 85% of the fees that would otherwise have accrued through the remainder of the term.

Additionally, BitMine entered into a separate 10-year management services agreement with Ethereum Tower following the acquisition of Pier Two, the business behind its MAVAN validator operations.

Under that arrangement, Ethereum Tower received a 2% membership interest in MAVAN and became entitled to a monthly payment calculated as a percentage of native staking rewards generated through the platform.

BitMine had not recorded expenses under the second agreement as of May 31. The revenue-linked cost of that arrangement had therefore not yet appeared in the company's reported staking margins.

The company said a substantial portion of its ETH holding was staked through MAVAN and that it expects staking rewards to exceed the cost of managing the assets.

The latest quarter provided early support for that expectation at the operating level. Staking revenue covered cost of sales and administrative expenses before crypto valuation changes.

However, the long-term consulting fees, future revenue-sharing payments, and broader treasury-management expenses mean that the economics cannot be measured by gross staking revenue alone.

No debt, but BitMine's dependence on capital markets deepens

BitMine remained lightly leveraged at the end of May, with $340.3 million in cash, $433.1 million in working capital, and no conventional debt.

Total liabilities stood at approximately $30.1 million against $11.63 billion in reported assets, most of which consisted of Ethereum and other digital assets.

The balance sheet therefore did not indicate an immediate solvency crisis. However, BitMine used $287.6 million of cash in operating activities during the first nine months of the fiscal year.

The company said the outflow was influenced in part by legal, advisory, consulting, and capital-raising expenses associated with the expansion of its ETH treasury.

After the quarter, BitMine raised another $273.8 million by selling 3.5 million BMNP shares of 9.5% perpetual preferred stock.

The offering strengthened the company's immediate liquidity, but it also introduced an estimated $33.25 million in annual preferred-dividend obligations. The securities are equity rather than conventional debt, though their position above common shareholders and high dividend rate add another recurring claim on BitMine's resources.

Management said existing cash, anticipated operating cash flows, and access to its shelf registration and ATM program should provide sufficient liquidity for at least the next 12 months.

That assessment partly depends on continued access to capital markets. If Ethereum prices stagnate, BitMine shares weaken, or investors become less receptive to further issuance, the company could face higher financing costs or reduced flexibility.

BitMine's latest filing therefore presents two competing realities.

The company has built a staking operation capable of generating tens of millions of dollars in quarterly revenue and covering its core operating expenses before crypto valuation changes.

At the same time, options losses have overwhelmed those gains, long-term contracts have added substantial management costs, and the expansion of the ETH treasury has relied on equity issuance, which has more than doubled the number of shares outstanding.

So, BitMine's long-term economics will depend on whether staking income can consistently exceed treasury costs and options losses, whether the company can preserve access to capital, and whether Ethereum recovers enough to narrow the multibillion-dollar gap between the cost and market value of its holdings.

The post BitMine made $46 million staking Ethereum then lost twice that betting on it appeared first on CryptoSlate.

According to online chatter, you'd be mistaken to think that Sony will soon let PlayStation users buy games using a Sony-issued cryptocurrency. However, the crypto community may be getting ahead of itself.

On July 2, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for a proposed Sony Bank-owned trust bank called Connectia Trust. Neither that decision nor Sony Bank’s announcement names PlayStation, the PlayStation Store, or game purchases.

The approval simply outlines a financial-services structure that could support payments on Sony properties in the future, but a PlayStation product is not part of the public record.

What Sony has proposed

Connectia Trust would be wholly owned by Sony Bank. The OCC decision says the proposed trust would issue a dollar-backed stablecoin, maintain reserves, provide custody and support transfers in a restricted, permissioned closed-loop network.

Its customers would include U.S. retail customers who already have relationships with Sony Group or its subsidiaries, as well as Sony Group companies.

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That framework could be useful for a consumer platform. It describes a payment system confined to approved Sony properties and defined customers, not an open cryptocurrency that can be spent broadly across the internet.

Still, the filing uses general terms. It does not identify which consumer services would join the network or say that games could be bought with the token.

Viral social media posts are making the leap many readers would make upon first seeing a Sony stablecoin plan: PlayStation is the company’s best-known consumer platform, so a Sony-controlled payment rail can seem like a route to game purchases. Reactions also focused on the prospect of a tightly controlled closed ecosystem. Obviously, mere online speculation does not make it a Sony product announcement.

Connectia also has not cleared its main regulatory hurdle. The OCC’s action was preliminary conditional approval, and the trust cannot begin business until it meets pre-opening requirements and receives final approval. Sony Bank says it is preparing for a possible 2027 opening, subject to required approvals, and explicitly states that neither the opening date nor stablecoin issuance is guaranteed.

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A PlayStation feature would require another decision after that. The proposed network is limited to Sony Group and subsidiary platforms, but the filing does not commit any named product to use it.

Sony would need to specify the product, its eligible customers, and what they could buy before a PlayStation purchase flow could exist.

In October 2025, Sony completed a partial spin-off of its financial-services business and retained a 16.40% stake in Sony Financial Group, rather than keeping it as a consolidated subsidiary, according to Sony’s corporate record.

That does not prevent coordination, but it makes the trust-bank approval only one element of a potential PlayStation-payment plan.

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Sony Bank now has a conditional route to build a U.S. stablecoin and custody operation for a restricted Sony network. It has not announced PlayStation crypto payments.

The post Sony’s stablecoin plan sends PlayStation crypto rumors racing ahead of the facts appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Japan has taken one of its most significant steps toward integrating cryptocurrencies into the traditional financial system.

The Japanese parliament has passed an amendment formally designating cryptocurrencies as “financial assets.” Until now, crypto assets in Japan were primarily regulated under the country’s Payment Services Act. The new classification brings them closer to financial products such as stocks, bonds and investment funds.

The decision could eventually lead to lower taxes, stronger investor protections and the introduction of regulated cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds in Japan.

However, the reform does not mean that Japanese Bitcoin ETFs are already trading or that every crypto investor will immediately benefit from a 20% tax rate. Further regulatory and tax implementation measures will still be required.

What changes under Japan’s new crypto law?

By bringing crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, Japan is shifting its regulatory focus from payments toward investment and market oversight.

Crypto exchanges and other financial institutions could face rules similar to those applied to traditional securities companies. These may include stricter disclosure obligations, enhanced consumer protections and controls against insider trading and market manipulation.

Earlier proposals from Japan’s Financial Services Agency suggested applying the new framework to more than 100 cryptocurrencies available through approved Japanese exchanges, including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The legislation could therefore make Japan’s crypto market more regulated, but also more accessible to traditional financial institutions.

Will Japan reduce crypto taxes to 20%?

Japan currently treats many cryptocurrency profits as miscellaneous income. Depending on an investor’s total income, the combined tax rate can reach approximately 55%.

This has long been criticized by Japanese crypto companies and investors. Traditional stock gains, by comparison, are generally taxed separately at around 20%.

The new financial-asset classification establishes the legal foundation for Japan to move eligible crypto gains toward a similar separate taxation system. Reports indicate that lawmakers are targeting an effective rate of approximately 20%, although the tax reduction is expected to require separate implementation and may not take effect until 2028.

Reducing the rate from as much as 55% to around 20% could encourage Japanese investors to keep their trading activity inside regulated domestic platforms rather than moving funds abroad.

It could also make Bitcoin and Ethereum more attractive as long-term investment assets.

Does the law approve Bitcoin ETFs?

The law does not appear to provide immediate approval for a Japanese spot Bitcoin ETF.

Instead, classifying cryptocurrencies as financial products removes one of the most important legal barriers preventing crypto assets from being included in conventional investment products.

Japan’s regulators could now develop rules allowing investment trusts and exchange-traded funds to hold Bitcoin, Ethereum or other approved crypto assets.

Previous reports said the reform was designed partly to open the door to products such as crypto ETFs. The timing will depend on detailed regulations, product applications and approval from Japanese financial authorities.

Therefore, the most accurate interpretation is that Japan has created a potential pathway for Bitcoin ETFs—not that such funds have already been approved.

Could Japanese Bitcoin ETFs move the crypto market?

Japan is one of the world’s largest economies and has a substantial household savings market.

Japanese investors held more than 5 trillion yen in crypto assets in mid-2025, equivalent to roughly $33 billion at the time. The amount had increased by approximately 25% within one month, demonstrating growing domestic interest in digital assets.

A regulated Bitcoin ETF could give pension funds, asset managers, banks and cautious retail investors a more familiar way to gain crypto exposure.

The immediate market impact would depend on the size of the products and the amount of capital they attract. Japan’s decision alone does not guarantee large Bitcoin purchases.

Nevertheless, the combination of lower taxation and regulated ETFs could gradually unlock a new source of demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Why Japan’s decision matters globally

Japan was among the first major countries to establish a formal licensing system for cryptocurrency exchanges following several high-profile industry failures.

The new legislation represents the next stage of that approach. Instead of treating crypto mainly as a speculative payment technology, Japan is recognizing it as part of the broader investment market.

The shift also reflects a wider international trend. Governments are increasingly moving from debating whether crypto should exist toward deciding how it should be regulated, taxed and integrated into financial markets.

Japan’s decision could place additional pressure on other Asian economies to create competitive tax and investment frameworks.

What happens next?

Investors should now watch for three major developments:

First, Japan must publish detailed regulations explaining which crypto assets and companies will fall under the new financial framework.

Second, lawmakers must finalize the proposed tax changes, including the eligibility requirements and implementation date for the approximately 20% rate.

Third, Japanese asset managers may begin preparing applications for Bitcoin or Ethereum investment products once regulators establish an ETF framework.

The law is therefore an important milestone, but it is the beginning of Japan’s next crypto phase rather than the final step.

Japan crypto outlook

Recognizing cryptocurrencies as financial assets could fundamentally reshape Japan’s digital-asset market.

Lower taxes may encourage more domestic participation, while regulated ETFs could provide access to investors who currently avoid cryptocurrency exchanges. Stronger market rules could also improve institutional confidence.

For Bitcoin, the long-term impact may be more important than the immediate price reaction.

Japan has not simply announced support for crypto. It has started building the legal infrastructure required to place digital assets alongside traditional investments—and that could eventually bring a new wave of capital into the market.

Bitcoin has finally punched through the $65,000 wall that capped every rally for the past month. After grinding sideways for weeks, BTC exploded off its early-July lows and reclaimed the level that bulls have been staring at since mid-June. The move is fast, it's clean, and it's got a real macro story behind it — which is exactly why traders are suddenly paying attention again.

Let's break down what happened, why it happened, and where the charts say we're going next.

Why did Bitcoin break above $65,000?

The short answer: inflation cooled and the Fed rate-hike fear evaporated. Bitcoin pushed toward $65,000 as a sharper-than-expected slowdown in US inflation weakened the case for another near-term Federal Reserve rate move. June CPI came in soft, and that single data point flipped market psychology from defensive to risk-on almost overnight.

But this isn't a one-catalyst story. Several things stacked up at the same time:

• Relief bounce. The stream of bad news that dragged BTC under $58,000 on July 1 — including chatter around Michael Saylor trimming part of his stack — has dried up. When the bad news stops, price tends to snap back.
• Regulatory tailwinds. There's growing buzz around a fresh version of the Crypto Clarity Act, plus Circle securing approval to set up a national trust bank. Regulatory clarity is rocket fuel for institutional confidence.
• ETF inflows. Weekly Bitcoin ETF inflows have been running north of $1.3 billion, a strong signal that big money is accumulating, not fleeing.
• Seasonality. July has historically been a reliably green month for Bitcoin. The calendar was quietly on the bulls' side the whole time.

From a low near $58,000 at the start of the month to above $65,000 now, that's a move of roughly 15% in two weeks. Not bad for a coin everyone had written off as "boring" ten days ago.

Bitcoin price analysis: what the chart says

On the 2-hour chart, the structure is textbook. BTC spent the back half of June and early July carving out a base, put in a clear higher low around the $58,000 zone (the level marked as major support), and has now driven straight into the $65,000 resistance that rejected price back in late June.

The key levels to watch:

• $65,000 — the line in the sand. This capped the June rally and is the level BTC is now testing. A clean 2-hour or daily close above $65,000 turns old resistance into new support and opens the door higher.
• $67,300 — the next real obstacle. This was the lower high printed on June 15. To convince anyone that a real trend change is underway, bulls need to take this out. Until they do, this remains "just a bounce" for the skeptics.
• $58,000 — the floor. As long as BTC holds above this, the broader structure stays constructive.

Momentum backs the move: RSI on the lower timeframe has surged toward 67 and is pointing up, showing real buying pressure rather than a limp drift higher. It's not yet screaming "overbought," which leaves room for continuation.

Prediction: If Bitcoin holds $65,000 as support on a retest, the path of least resistance points to $67,300 first, then a run at $70,000, which analysts have flagged as the natural upside target if the $58,000 base holds. The bullish scenario needs that June high taken out to confirm. The bearish scenario is simple: rejection at $65,000, a slip back below, and a re-test of $62,000–$58,000. Watch the reaction at the line — that's where this gets decided.

One honest caveat: some analysts warn the inflation-relief pop may already be fading, and geopolitical risk in the Middle East hasn't gone anywhere. This is a real breakout attempt, not a guaranteed one.

How are ETH, XRP, SOL and DOGE reacting?

Altcoins are riding Bitcoin's coattails — and in several cases outperforming it on the day:

• Ethereum ($ETH): trading around $1,875, up roughly 5–6% on the day. ETH is leading the majors, helped by news that Morgan Stanley pushed forward updated S-1 filings for spot ETH and SOL ETFs. Staking demand keeps grinding higher in the background.
• $XRP: around $1.10, up close to 4%. Social sentiment on XRP has turned notably bullish — though it's worth noting that historically, loud XRP optimism has sometimes preceded pullbacks, so keep expectations measured.
• Solana ($SOL): near $77–78, up around 3–3.7%. SOL is a direct beneficiary of the Morgan Stanley ETF filing story and remains one of the higher-beta plays when risk appetite returns.
• Dogecoin ($DOGE): around $0.074, up roughly 3%. Classic DOGE behavior — it wakes up when Bitcoin runs and the mood turns risk-on.

The broad tape is green: total crypto market cap climbed back toward $2.3 trillion, up nearly 3% on the day, with Bitcoin dominance holding around 56%. When BTC leads and alts follow without dominance collapsing, it usually signals a healthy, BTC-led leg rather than a frothy alt blow-off.

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Bottom line

Bitcoin breaking $65,000 is the most convincing move BTC has made in weeks, and it's backed by a genuine macro shift: cooling inflation, fading Fed-hike fears, strong ETF inflows and improving regulatory optics. The technicals agree, with a clean higher-low base and momentum turning up.

The catch is confirmation. Bulls must hold $65,000 and then clear the $67,300 June high to prove this is a trend change and not just the best relief bounce of the summer. Reclaim those levels and $70,000 is squarely in play. Lose $65,000 and we're right back to chopping between $62,000 and $58,000.

Bitcoin Price Breaks $64,000 After Cooling CPI Inflation

The trigger was a single data point: US Consumer Price Index inflation came in at 3.5%, well below the 3.8% markets expected. Cooler inflation is exactly what risk-on traders had been waiting for, and Bitcoin responded instantly, punching through $64,000. Ethereum followed, climbing toward $1,900 as the broader crypto market caught the bid.

$135M in Short Liquidations Fuel the Crypto Market Surge

Rallies this sharp are rarely just spot buying. As Bitcoin ripped higher, traders betting on lower prices got caught on the wrong side — and in a 60-minute window, $135 million in short positions were liquidated. Each forced liquidation buys back the asset to close the position, adding fuel to the move that triggered it. That short squeeze cascade is why the candle went vertical rather than grinding up slowly.

Why Cooling CPI Inflation Boosts Rate Cut Odds

This is the real story beneath the price action. Inflation cooling to 3.5% strengthens the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner. Lower rates are broadly bullish for crypto: cheaper money pushes investors out of safe yield and into higher-risk assets like Bitcoin, and rate cuts typically weaken the dollar, historically a tailwind for crypto. Markets are now repricing the odds of a cut, and that repricing is showing up directly on the charts.

Bitcoin Price and Ethereum Price Outlook

The immediate direction hinges on whether the move holds above key levels — $64,000 for $Bitcoin and the approach to $1,900 for $Ethereum. Holding confirms the breakout; failing could signal the rally was driven more by liquidations than conviction. The bigger swing factor is the Fed: if more data confirms the cooling trend, rate cut expectations firm up. If the next print runs hot, today's optimism could reverse just as fast.

Crypto Price Today: Red Across the Board

The market is having a rough Tuesday. The global crypto market cap sits at around $2.23 trillion, down roughly 1.5% over the last 24 hours, with total trading volume near $68.5 billion. Sentiment has soured too — the Fear & Greed Index dropped from 28 (Fear) to 22 (Extreme Fear).

Here's how the top of the board looks today:

The one standout is Hyperliquid (HYPE), which despite today's dip is up a staggering ~150% year-to-date — a rare bright spot in an otherwise brutal year for holders.

Why Is the Crypto Market Down Today?

Two words: geopolitics and macro. Crypto's weekend gains gave way to a Monday selloff as Middle East tensions resurfaced, and around $253 million in leveraged positions were wiped out. Bitcoin slipped below $62,000 after climbing to roughly $64,500 earlier, as escalating U.S.–Iran tensions added another layer of risk to global markets.

The bigger picture remains sobering: Bitcoin is down about 30% year-to-date and sits more than 50% below its October record.

What Important Events Are Happening in Crypto Right Now?

Is institutional money still buying the dip? Yes — aggressively. Tom Lee's BitMine expanded its ether treasury to 5.77 million tokens, roughly 4.8% of total ETH supply. On the ETF side, the rotation into Ethereum has been dramatic: ether ETFs recently tallied $1.6 billion in inflows while Bitcoin ETFs saw around $175 million in outflows.

Where does regulation stand? The CLARITY Act — crypto's market-structure bill — is in a decisive phase. The revised draft merges proposals from the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, but key provisions remain under active negotiation, particularly around ethics rules, so the timing of a Senate floor vote is uncertain. President Trump has urged the Senate to pass the bill in honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away on July 11.

What else is on the radar?

• New Hampshire passed the Blockchain Fundamentals Act, safeguarding crypto self-custody, developers and miners, and introducing blockchain dispute resolution.
• Circle's 2026 Developer Grants awarded nearly half of recipients from Africa and the Global South, focused on stablecoin payments and remittances.
• Oil jumped after President Trump's new restrictions on Iranian shipping, with Brent crude up about 10% — a reminder that macro shocks are bleeding straight into risk assets.

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The 3 Events This Week That Could Unlock Bitcoin's Next Move

Buckle up — the next few days are stacked with catalysts. Between July 13 and 19, crypto enters one of 2026's busiest macro weeks. Here are the three that matter most.

1. Inflation Data: June CPI (Today) and PPI (Wednesday)

The headline event. Monthly CPI for June is expected to slow to 0.2% from 0.5% in May, with annual inflation projected to fall to 3.8% from 4.2%. A soft print revives rate-cut hopes; a hot one keeps the pressure on crypto. The Producer Price Index follows on Wednesday, July 15, measuring wholesale inflation and rounding out the picture ahead of the Fed's next move.

Watch out for the wildcard: Fed Governor Christopher Waller warned that another strong inflation reading could push the central bank toward tighter policy, saying he'd treat a higher print as "signal, not noise." Following his remarks, the odds of a September rate hike jumped to 51.6% on the CME FedWatch Tool.

2. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh Testimony (July 14 & 15)

Arguably the single biggest swing factor. Warsh testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday — his first appearance since taking the helm in May. At his June debut, he effectively killed the market's remaining 2026 rate-cut thesis and sent Bitcoin tumbling, so every word will be parsed for clues on the path ahead.

3. The CLARITY Act Push

The regulatory catalyst. A dovish Warsh lean or a legislative breakthrough could spark the relief rally the market has been waiting for; a hawkish tone and a stalled bill would deepen the malaise. The key deadline to watch: August 7, 2026 is the last day of the Senate term before the summer recess and campaign season.

And looking just beyond this week: all of this data feeds directly into the next FOMC meeting on July 28–29, 2026, where the rate decision will be made.

Crypto Future Price: Will Bitcoin Price go up?

Bitcoin is pinned at the psychologically critical $60K zone while three forces — inflation data, Fed signaling, and the CLARITY Act — pull the market in different directions at once. It's a high-volatility setup layered onto a fragile market. The next 48 hours could set the tone for the rest of the summer.

The crypto market opened the week in the red. $BTC pulled back below a closely watched level as renewed US-Iran hostilities rattled risk assets and traders locked in weekend gains. But underneath the selloff, the ETF data just delivered a signal that has been missing for two months. Here is a breakdown of the crypto news today and what is moving the bitcoin price.

What Is the Bitcoin Price Today?

The btc price today sits at around $63,000, down roughly 1.4% over the past 24 hours after sliding from above $64,300 at the weekly close. The move triggered about $253 million in 24-hour liquidations, skewed toward longs, though the flush was modest — roughly a sixth of the market's worst single-day wipeouts over the past month. $Bitcoin has now traded inside a $59,000 to $66,000 range for a month, so today's drop sits firmly within established territory rather than signaling a breakdown.

Zoom out and the picture stays sober: BTC is down about 30% year-to-date and more than 50% below its October record.

Why Is Bitcoin Falling Today?

Two forces met at once. First, geopolitics: reignited US-Iran tensions over the Strait of Hormuz pushed investors out of risk assets across the board. South Korea's Kospi index shed 9.2%, and WTI crude gained 3% to trade above $73 a barrel as the conflict continued. Second, profit-taking: Bitcoin and the broader market rallied into the weekend, so part of Monday's slide is simply traders banking gains after a strong run.

Which Altcoins Are Hit Hardest Today?

The steeper losses landed further down the risk curve:

• Lighter ($LIT): down 8% in its first major selloff after a 200%+ two-month rally.
• Cardano ($ADA): down 19% since July 4, after a violent 39% June drop and a 40%+ early-July bounce.
• Jupiter ($JUP): down more than 15% on the week as daily volume collapsed to just $17 million, versus $500 million+ regularly in 2025.

On the corporate side, Strategy (MSTR) raised $466.7 million via a stock sale last week, lifting its cash reserve to $3 billion while keeping its Bitcoin stack unchanged at 843,775 coins.

Are Bitcoin ETF Inflows Turning Positive Again?

This is the signal worth watching. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their first weekly inflows in nine weeks, pulling in roughly $197 million, according to SoSoValue. That breaks an eight-week outflow streak that bled $2.43 billion in May and $4.5 billion in June. July has now logged $124 million in net inflows so far.

In plain terms: after two brutal months of institutions pulling out, the tide may be turning. Analysts caution the structural bid stays unproven until BlackRock's IBIT sees sustained inflows — but for the first time in a while, the flow data leans constructive.

What Crypto Events Should Traders Watch This Week?

This is one of 2026's busiest macro weeks, and two levers dominate:

• Inflation data: June CPI lands Tuesday, PPI Wednesday — two chances to read the Fed's rate path. Softer prints could strengthen the case for easier policy, which has historically supported Bitcoin.
• Fed Chair Warsh testimony: Kevin Warsh testifies before the House and Senate this week, his first appearance since May. At his June debut he held rates steady and tilted the dot plot toward hikes, sending Bitcoin tumbling — so traders will parse every word.

On regulation, the CLARITY Act reconciliation push continues alongside the July 18 GENIUS Act stablecoin deadline. Every step toward asset-classification clarity chips away at the regulatory-uncertainty discount weighing on the market.

Pollak said he is handing the Base App back to Coinbase to focus on building Base into "the blockchain for global finance" after conceding the network's push into on-chain social missed the mark.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is working with nearly 40 financial firms in a pilot to test tokenized stocks and U.S. treasuries.

Hackers manipulated Ostium's price feed by compromising an oracle signer key, allowing them to drain roughly $18 million from the Arbitrum-based perpetuals exchange.

OFAC sanctioned addresses tied to Iran's central bank and armed forces, with Tether locking four Tron wallets as Washington's financial campaign against Tehran accelerates.

BTC cleared a key resistance level Tuesday, giving bulls hope. Prediction market traders aren't convinced.

DTCC launches a live blockchain trial with Vanguard, JPMorgan, BlackRock, and more to tokenize the trillion-dollar US market.

The Volvo Group is exploring how blockchain could streamline its global supply chain, with a senior executive revealing that the company has tested a proprietary cryptocurrency.

Michael Saylor suspends weekly Bitcoin purchases in a surprising move that saw the firm expand its U.S. dollar reserves instead.

XRP breaks a multi-month bearish trend to hit $1.12 as a cool US PPI report triggers a 331% short liquidation imbalance.

New blast-finish Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin by Rakuten Wallet becomes an instant internal hit for the tech giant.

Key Highlights

• Major financial institutions like Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Bank of New York Mellon surpassed quarterly earnings projections
• ASML boosted its annual revenue guidance thanks to robust AI semiconductor demand
• IBM experienced its worst single-session decline in company history following disappointing forward guidance
• PayPal stock jumped significantly amid speculation that Stripe and Advent International are considering a $53 billion takeover bid
• Crude oil prices declined, providing relief for inflation concerns and benefiting multiple market sectors

Financial Institutions Continue Earnings Dominance

The banking sector delivered another round of impressive quarterly results during this earnings cycle.

Morgan Stanley, along with BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon, posted financial results that exceeded Wall Street projections. These performances followed similarly strong reports from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs released earlier this week.

Morgan Stanley experienced robust performance in its trading divisions and witnessed renewed momentum in investment banking activities. BlackRock announced unprecedented levels of assets under management, propelled by substantial capital inflows into its exchange-traded fund offerings.

These outcomes demonstrate resilient capital market conditions despite the continued elevated interest rate environment.

ASML Increases Guidance Driven by AI Infrastructure Demand

ASML, the Netherlands-based manufacturer of advanced lithography systems essential for cutting-edge semiconductor production, upgraded its annual revenue projections.

The company attributed the increase to sustained demand for its specialized equipment as chip manufacturers scale up capacity to satisfy AI-driven requirements. Positioned at a critical juncture in the semiconductor supply chain, ASML’s forecasts serve as an important indicator for the wider technology sector.

This announcement provided momentum to semiconductor stocks broadly, lifting shares of companies including Nvidia, Broadcom, and Taiwan Semiconductor.

IBM Suffers Unprecedented Decline Following Disappointing Outlook

IBM experienced one of its most devastating trading sessions after indicating that enterprise clients are reallocating spending priorities toward AI infrastructure at the expense of conventional software and consulting services.

Management explained that customers are postponing legacy technology initiatives to concentrate resources on artificial intelligence capabilities. This forecast precipitated IBM’s largest single-day percentage decline in its corporate history.

While IBM continues investing in hybrid cloud platforms and AI technologies, market participants reacted negatively to management’s presentation of the company’s strategic direction. The dramatic selloff illustrated how severely markets penalize companies failing to meet forward guidance expectations.

PayPal Surges on Speculation of Major Acquisition Deal

PayPal shares rallied significantly following media reports suggesting that Stripe and private equity investor Advent International are exploring a potential acquisition valued at approximately $53 billion.

While no official proposal has been submitted, the speculation alone drove PayPal’s stock substantially higher as market participants evaluated the prospects of what could become one of the largest financial technology transactions on record.

The development also generated positive momentum throughout the broader payments and fintech industry, where merger and acquisition activity has emerged as an increasingly prominent trend.

Crude Oil Declines, Alleviating Inflation Pressures

Crude oil prices fell back despite continued geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East region.

Decreasing energy prices typically provide advantages for airlines, retail chains, and other consumer-oriented industries by lowering fuel-related expenses. Additionally, they help moderate inflationary pressures, which have remained a primary focus for financial markets throughout the current monetary policy cycle.

This decline complemented a series of more moderate inflation data releases this week, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve may have increased flexibility regarding future interest rate adjustments.

The post Market Recap: Financial Giants Shine While IBM Stumbles and PayPal Takeover Rumors Swirl appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Dell shares plummeted over 13% Wednesday, reaching an intraday bottom at $397.69 amid growing AI infrastructure overcapacity worries
• News that Meta intends to lease excess AI computing capacity sparked fears that major cloud providers over-invested, which could dampen server demand going forward
• GF Securities cut its rating on DELL to Hold, pointing to valuation concerns following an approximately 200% stock surge
• Company insiders dumped roughly $1.56 billion in shares across three months without any corresponding insider purchases
• Evercore ISI bucked the bearish trend, keeping its Outperform rating while lifting the price target to $500

Dell Technologies (DELL) experienced a brutal trading session Wednesday, plummeting more than 13% and touching an intraday floor of $397.69, as concerns about artificial intelligence demand, a new analyst downgrade, and substantial insider stock sales converged to pressure shares.

Dell Technologies Inc., DELL

The decline represented one of the most severe single-session drops for the technology hardware manufacturer in recent months. Broader market indices offered no explanation for the weakness — the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite all posted modest gains during the trading day.

Market participants grew alarmed following reports that Meta is formulating plans to lease unused AI training and inference computing power to corporate clients. The implications: if major cloud infrastructure providers have expanded capacity too aggressively, demand for AI-focused servers could decelerate — problematic for Dell, whose business includes manufacturing Nvidia-powered artificial intelligence server systems.

Escalating memory component prices are also squeezing profit margins. Servers optimized for AI workloads already generate thinner gross margins compared to Dell’s conventional hardware products, meaning any weakening in demand creates amplified pressure on profitability.

GF Securities slashed its rating on DELL to Hold Wednesday, expressing concerns about valuation levels after shares rocketed approximately 200% from their 52-week trough of $110.22 — driving the forward price-to-earnings multiple to roughly 34x.

Heavy Insider Liquidation Compounds Selling Pressure

Aggressive insider selling intensified the negative sentiment. Throughout the past three months, company executives and directors liquidated approximately $1.56 billion in Dell stock, with no offsetting insider purchases recorded. Two additional Form 4 disclosures were published on July 14, revealing further transactions by corporate insiders.

Institutional options activity also turned decidedly negative. Trading analytics platform CapitalFlow observed that major market participants sold over $18 million in bearish call premium following the stock’s 8%+ decline from its opening price — a tactical “sell the rally” positioning.

Competitor stocks suffered collateral damage. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) declined approximately 7%, while Super Micro Computer (SMCI) fell roughly 4%.

Wall Street Remains Divided

Not all analysts are abandoning ship. Evercore ISI reaffirmed its Outperform stance and boosted its DELL price objective to $500, indicating that some market analysts continue viewing the long-term AI infrastructure narrative favorably.

During CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer indicated he would favor Dell or HPE over SMCI when comparing the competitive landscape.

From a chart analysis perspective, DELL continues trading significantly above its 200-day moving average — approximately 99.6% higher — and the March golden cross pattern remains valid. However, near-term price action has clearly deteriorated. Shares now trade roughly 5.7% beneath the 20-day moving average of $420.74, while the relative strength index registers 48.48, indicating neutral but softening momentum.

Market technicians are monitoring support levels around $378.50 and resistance zones near $444.

Dell was trading down 13.22% at $397.06 at the time of publication Wednesday.

The post Dell (DELL) Stock Plunges 13% Amid AI Infrastructure Overcapacity Concerns appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• WULF shares declined 2.3% Wednesday to $18.96, capping off a brutal four-day streak with losses approaching 19% since July 9
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul imposed a 12-month ban on data centers exceeding 50 megawatts in capacity
• Both of TeraWulf’s major facilities—Lake Mariner and Cayuga—are situated in New York, creating apparent vulnerability
• Cantor Fitzgerald and Rosenblatt view the downturn as an attractive entry point, maintaining price targets of $37 and $30
• Wall Street analysts argue the moratorium’s enforcement provisions don’t apply to TeraWulf’s current New York operations

Shares of TeraWulf have endured a challenging stretch. The cryptocurrency miner transitioning into data center operations slipped 2.3% to close at $18.96 Wednesday, marking the fourth straight day of losses.

TeraWulf Inc., WULF

Since July 9, the stock has plummeted almost 19%, dipping beneath its 50-day moving average of approximately $24.30. The dramatic decline has wiped out nearly $2.06 billion in shareholder value in under a week.

The catalyst for the decline came Tuesday when New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive directive implementing a 12-month prohibition on building data centers exceeding 50 megawatts throughout the state.

TeraWulf faces heightened exposure compared to industry peers. The company’s Lake Mariner facility and its Cayuga development project under construction are both situated within New York’s borders, seemingly placing the firm directly in the policy’s impact zone—at least superficially.

However, Wall Street analysts aren’t convinced the selloff is justified. Rosenblatt’s Chris Brendler maintained his Buy recommendation and $30 price objective Wednesday, suggesting approximately 58% potential gains from present levels.

“Although WULF should be largely exempt and now has the majority of its power footprint outside of NY, the stock still sold off,” Brendler noted. “We view this development as more headline risk than structural as the enforcement mechanism simply doesn’t reach the company’s existing NY platform.”

Cantor Fitzgerald shared this assessment, characterizing the decline as a strategic buying window. The investment firm maintained its Overweight recommendation alongside a $37 price objective.

Wall Street Remains Optimistic

Rosenblatt’s $30 projection derives from applying a 26x multiple to the firm’s 2028 Adjusted EBITDA forecast. Compass Point displays even greater confidence with a $40 target. Needham has established a $33 objective, while Bernstein SocGen carries an Outperform rating with a $36 price goal.

The collective bullishness from analysts stands firm despite shares trading around $19.

TeraWulf didn’t suffer alone during the downturn. CoreWeave declined 4% while Nebius tumbled 7.8% Tuesday. Riot Platforms, Cipher Digital, and Hut 8 similarly experienced downward pressure, with all three names trading lower across Tuesday and Wednesday sessions.

Anthropic Partnership Remains Central to Investment Thesis

Beyond the moratorium headlines, TeraWulf’s core investment narrative remains intact. The company recently executed a 20-year agreement with Anthropic for its Hawesville, Kentucky facility—delivering 401 megawatts of IT capacity valued at $19 billion across the contract’s duration.

This transformative agreement exists entirely outside New York’s jurisdiction, providing a compelling rationale for analysts’ continued optimism.

TeraWulf additionally divested its 50.1% ownership position in Abernathy for approximately $530 million, securing a $450 million capital infusion representing 168 megawatts of capacity.

While shares have retreated 23% this month, the stock maintains a 65% year-to-date gain and has skyrocketed 260% over the trailing twelve months. With a beta coefficient of 4.26, substantial price swings are characteristic—and according to certain analysts, that volatility represents opportunity rather than risk.

Rosenblatt confirmed its Buy rating Wednesday, July 15, keeping the $30 price target in place.

The post TeraWulf (WULF) Stock Plunges Nearly 19% Following New York Data Center Ban – Analysts Urge Investors to Buy appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Shares of Corning plummeted more than 8% on Wednesday, continuing a significant decline from the $271.78 all-time peak reached on June 30
• A sizable bearish options trade emerged the day before, with an institutional trader purchasing weekly puts in anticipation of second-quarter results due July 28
• Chief Executive Wendell Weeks and fellow executives offloaded more than $54 million in shares near record highs, with no insider purchases to balance the selling
• The company’s trailing price-to-earnings multiple had surged past 90x, significantly exceeding historical norms and creating downside vulnerability
• Wall Street forecasts Q2 earnings per share between $0.75 and $0.76 with approximately $4.60 billion in revenue; consensus price target stands at $194.69

Shares of Corning (GLW) experienced a sharp decline exceeding 8% during Wednesday’s morning session, sliding to approximately $171 — representing a dramatic pullback from the company’s June 30 record high of $271.78. The broader indices showed strength during the same period, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq each advancing roughly 0.4%, highlighting that Corning’s weakness was company-specific rather than market-driven.

Corning Inc, GLW

This downturn represents an extension of a multi-week correction pattern that began forming after reaching that all-time peak. GLW experienced an approximately 13% single-session drop on July 1, with additional declines occurring on both July 7 and July 13.

Wednesday’s accelerated selling followed the identification of bearish options positioning during the previous trading day. An institutional trader acquired weekly put contracts on Corning, indicating sophisticated investors were hedging against additional downside movement in advance of the second-quarter earnings announcement scheduled for July 28.

Wall Street consensus calls for core earnings per share ranging from $0.75 to $0.76 alongside revenue expectations of approximately $4.60 billion for the quarter. However, Corning has fallen short of revenue projections in multiple recent quarters, creating a challenging environment with limited margin for disappointment.

Executive Stock Sales Draw Scrutiny

A significant factor contributing to investor concern involves the substantial volume of insider transactions executed near price peaks. Chief Executive Wendell Weeks divested 100,000 shares during June at an average sale price of $186.46, generating proceeds of $18.6 million. Senior Vice President Soumya Seetharam sold 20,000 shares in May at approximately $206 per share. Combined, company insiders have liquidated over $54 million in stock value throughout recent months, with no corresponding insider buying activity documented.

Corporate insiders currently maintain ownership of merely 0.25% of the outstanding share base.

Valuation Concerns Following AI-Fueled Rally

Corning’s impressive advance was driven predominantly by enthusiasm surrounding its position within artificial intelligence infrastructure, especially fiber optic and optical connectivity solutions. However, this rally elevated the trailing price-to-earnings multiple beyond 90x — substantially above the five-year historical median — creating acute sensitivity to any negative developments.

The equity currently trades in the $173–$174 vicinity, a price level market analysts had previously highlighted as an important moving-average support threshold.

On a positive note, Corning exceeded first-quarter expectations, delivering earnings per share of $0.70 on revenue of $4.34 billion, representing an 18.1% year-over-year increase. The company additionally announced a quarterly dividend distribution of $0.28 per share, scheduled for payment on September 29.

Wall Street sentiment continues leaning optimistic overall. Ten research analysts maintain Buy recommendations while six hold neutral ratings. The average price target registers at $194.69, with Mizuho establishing the highest target at $270 and Oppenheimer projecting $230.

Zacks Investment Research downgraded its assessment from Strong Buy to Hold during late May, while Wall Street Zen shifted to a Hold recommendation in June.

The upcoming critical catalyst for GLW will arrive with its second-quarter earnings disclosure on July 28.

The post Corning (GLW) Stock Plunges 8% Amid Executive Sales and Earnings Uncertainty appeared first on Blockonomi.

Quick Summary

• Warren Buffett disclosed on CNBC that he personally spearheaded Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet position, currently valued at approximately $31 billion
• Shares of GOOGL advanced 1.8% during morning trade, reaching an intraday peak of $366.08
• KeyBanc lifted its price objective on GOOGL to $445 from $425 in anticipation of Q2 2026 results scheduled for July 22
• Zacks moved Alphabet from “hold” to “strong-buy”; consensus analyst price target stands at $413.73
• The company’s cloud contract backlog reached $462 billion in Q1 2026, representing an almost 100% sequential increase

Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) moved higher by 1.8% during Tuesday’s morning session, touching an intraday high of $366.08, following Warren Buffett’s confirmation on CNBC that he personally orchestrated Berkshire Hathaway’s substantial investment in the Google parent company.

Alphabet Inc., GOOGL

Buffett’s precise statement: “I initiated it.” The declaration put to rest any conjecture that the investment decision came from incoming CEO Greg Abel. Buffett clarified that while he and Abel jointly approve all major decisions, this particular move originated directly from him, making it a shared high-conviction position.

Berkshire initially revealed its Alphabet stake in the third quarter of 2025. The position has expanded consistently since, including a $10 billion private placement transaction earlier this year connected to Alphabet’s artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion. Berkshire’s total Alphabet holdings now amount to approximately $31 billion.

The stock’s 52-week bottom was $180.48. Trading now above $366 demonstrates the dramatic shift in market sentiment over the past twelve months.

Wall Street Analysts Turn Bullish

Justin Patterson, analyst at KeyBanc, increased his GOOGL price objective to $445 from $425 in advance of the company’s Q2 2026 earnings announcement scheduled for July 22. Patterson’s thesis centers on Wall Street underappreciating the durability of both Google Search and Google Cloud revenue streams.

Zacks Research elevated Alphabet from “hold” to “strong-buy” status on Monday. This upgrade joins an already bullish analyst consensus — 47 analysts maintain Buy ratings, three assign Strong Buy, and only five rate it as Hold. The consensus Wall Street price target sits at $413.73.

Additional recent price target increases include DBS Bank moving to $460, Loop Capital raising to $490 with a Buy recommendation, and Royal Bank of Canada maintaining $425 with an Outperform designation.

Alphabet’s most recent quarterly results provided substantial fuel for analyst optimism. The technology giant delivered EPS of $5.11, significantly exceeding the $2.64 Street estimate. Revenue totaled $109.9 billion against expectations of $106.98 billion. Net profit margin reached 37.92% while return on equity landed at 38.99%.

Cloud Pipeline and Artificial Intelligence Expansion

Alphabet’s cloud services backlog hit $462 billion during Q1 2026 — approximately double the prior quarter’s figure. This metric is garnering significant attention from investors ahead of the July 22 earnings conference call.

On the product development front, Google introduced Gemini AI capabilities to Chrome desktop users throughout the United Kingdom and unveiled a Pinterest-inspired redesign for Google Images. While neither announcement individually moves markets, both contribute to the company’s broader artificial intelligence narrative leading into quarterly results.

The overall market exhibited positive momentum on the session — the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, Dow Jones climbed 0.4%, and Nasdaq advanced 0.7% — yet Alphabet’s performance exceeded all three indices, underscoring the stock-specific impact of Buffett’s disclosure.

Institutional ownership remains substantial. Hedge funds and institutional investors collectively control 40.03% of outstanding shares. Norges Bank established a new position exceeding $30 billion in market value during Q4. Vanguard expanded its stake by 2.4%, bringing total holdings above 528 million shares.

Corporate insiders, conversely, have been reducing positions — 159,415 shares valued at $7.67 million were sold over the previous 90 days. CAO Marsida Saraci disposed of 449 shares at $341.72 per share on June 26.

Wall Street analysts project full-year EPS of $14.32 for Alphabet. The company reports Q2 2026 financial results on July 22.

The post Warren Buffett Reveals Personal Role in Berkshire’s $31B Alphabet (GOOGL) Investment appeared first on Blockonomi.

Solana (SOL) joined the broader crypto rebound after cooling US inflation data, climbing back toward $80.

According to some analysts, this could be the beginning of a more substantial rally that might push the price well beyond the psychological level of $100.

SOL Turns Bullish

The renowned analyst Ali Martinez claimed that the Average True Range (ATR) stop has flipped below price, marking the first SuperTrend buy signal on Solana since October 10.

He believes that if buying pressure continues to build, SOL could surge toward $96 and even $121. At the same time, Martinez paid close attention to the $60 level, noting that a drop below that support would invalidate the bullish setup.

Michael van de Poppe also chipped in, suggesting that the asset is at an important crossroads. He thinks that if SOL manages to keep its current valuation at around $77, it may trigger a much more substantial upswing. On the other hand, he warned that a drop below $73 could trigger a retest of the lows in the coming weeks.

Bloomberg’s James Seyffart pointed to a key regulatory development that may swing momentum toward the bulls. He revealed that Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has filed updated documents to launch a Solana ETF with the ticker MSOL and a 0.14% fee. An eventual introduction of such a financial vehicle could draw additional investors into Solana’s ecosystem and benefit the price.

It is important to note that Morgan Stanley wouldn’t be the only behemoth offering that kind of a product, as Bitwise, Fidelity, Grayscale, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have already jumped on the bandwagon. The cumulative net inflow into spot SOL ETFs to date has reached almost $1.15 billion.

Another Positive Factor

The prolonged bear market and unmet ecosystem expectations have recently pushed Solana’s fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to its highest level for 2026.

This means that sentiment among market participants is extremely negative, and most weak-hand investors have already exited. The development could be interpreted as bullish, since the price often reverses when fear peaks, suggesting that the cycle’s bottom might have been formed.

The post Key Solana (SOL) Indicator Finally Flashes a Buy Signal: Can Bulls Push to $120? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Peter Schiff renewed his long-running criticism of Bitcoin (BTC) on the July 15 episode of “The Peter Schiff Show,” arguing that investors who hold the asset near its current price will eventually regret not selling, as he expects another major decline.

He also questioned Strategy’s decision to sell $450 million in common stock rather than touch its BTC holdings, saying it shows how boxed Michael Saylor’s company has become.

Schiff Lays Out His Bitcoin Case, and Takes Another Shot At Saylor

In the podcast, Schiff admitted that Bitcoin has been surprisingly resilient despite what he believes are growing risks beneath the surface. The economist said that he regretted not buying BTC when he first heard of it 15 years ago, but watching the asset in the last few years had tempered that regret.

“I don’t regret not buying it three, four, five years ago,” he told listeners. “But yeah, 15 years ago, sure, I should have bought it.”

However, he claimed that those who currently hold the OG crypto and still refuse to sell will soon rue their choice. Referring to the cryptocurrency’s current trading range, he argued that there is resistance around $65,000 while support is near $58,000. According to him, if that level fails, Bitcoin could fall below $50,000 before eventually hitting rock bottom at $30,000 or even $20,000.

‘The people who don’t sell it now, they’re going to be the ones that are going to have a lot of regrets,” he warned.

At the time of writing, CoinGecko data showed that BTC was trading a couple hundred bucks under $65,000, having gone up nearly 4% following the release of lower-than-expected US CPI numbers.

The economist then turned to another of his pet subjects, Strategy, which he noted had gone three straight weeks without buying Bitcoin and hadn’t sold any either since disposing of 3,588 BTC last week. Instead, Saylor’s firm raised $450 million through a common stock sale, pushing up its cash reserves to $3 billion, all while the stock traded at a huge discount to the value of its Bitcoin.

Schiff called it a needless dilution and argued that Strategy had avoided selling BTC only because doing so would tank the cryptocurrency’s price.

“Saylor knows if he starts really selling Bitcoin, the price is going to crash,” he claimed. “Now, the problem is it’s going to crash anyway because the market realizes the bind he’s in, and even if he doesn’t sell the market is going to crash out from under him.”

Corporate Treasury Debate In Focus

Schiff’s criticism has come at a time when analysts are reassessing the corporate Bitcoin accumulation story, of which Strategy is the biggest player. According to a recent report from QCP Capital, when Saylor’s firm sold some of its Bitcoin for the first time in late May, the amount, though small (32 BTC out of an over 847,000 BTC stash), still changed the way investors looked at such companies.

Many of them are now paying more attention to their cash reserves, equity issuances and the funding conditions of such operations to determine whether future purchases remain sustainable instead of just being swept away by the latest headline-grabbing buys.

The post Peter Schiff: Bitcoin Holders Will Soon Regret Not Selling at Current Levels appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cardano’s native token has experienced heightened volatility lately, but the bulls eventually prevailed and decisively pushed the price above the June lows.

Certain analysts believe ADA is poised for a much more substantial short-term upswing, and recent whale activity supports that scenario.

Parabolic Rally on the Way?

The recent US CPI data, which revealed that inflation in America has cooled off more than previously expected, has given the crypto market a much-needed boost. ADA caught the green wave, with its price climbing by 3.5% over the past 24 hours and currently trading at approximately $0.17.

Another element that may have propelled the asset’s resurgence is the recent formation of an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on its chart, as X user CryptoJack noted. The setup consists of three lows: a left shoulder, a deeper head, and a right shoulder, which usually indicates that sellers are weakening and buyers are taking control.

According to Celal Kucuker, ADA could be on the verge of a price explosion toward a new all-time high of $5. The analyst believes we have reached the bottom zone and expects the “parabolic” rally to begin.

Whales and More

The latest behavior of the large investors reinforces the optimistic price outlook. As CryptoPotato reported, whales holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA have increased their total possessions to over 25.6 billion coins, while smaller players (wallets owning fewer than 100 units) have reduced their exposure. Together, these factors represent a healthy setup for the token, though they don’t guarantee an immediate price explosion.

Another element that may lift the bulls’ spirits is ADA’s exchange netflow. Over the past weeks, outflows consistently exceeded inflows, suggesting that investors have been shifting from centralized platforms to self-custody methods, thereby reducing immediate selling pressure.

In contrast, ADA’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains a bearish element in the current setup. The technical analysis tool’s ratio has soared past 70, meaning the asset has entered overbought territory and could be due for a pullback in the near future. The index ranges from 0 to 100, and conversely, anything under 30 is considered a buying opportunity.

The post Top Cardano (ADA) Price Predictions: Are Bulls Ready to Take Over? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin’s notable rally is now approaching a major technical decision point. The asset has reclaimed several short-term resistance levels and is once again testing a critical supply area that could determine whether the current recovery evolves into a broader trend reversal or remains a relief rally within the larger bearish structure.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, Bitcoin remains below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which continue to slope downward and reinforce the broader bearish trend. The recent recovery from the $58K-$60K support zone has been impressive, but the price is now approaching the first significant supply region around $65K-$67K.

This area is particularly important because it coincides with a previous major swing high and a liquidity pool resting above recent highs. A successful breakout above this region marks an MSS and would strengthen the bullish case and expose the next major resistance around $72K-$74K, where the 100-day moving average is currently positioned.

Despite the recovery, the broader market structure remains bearish while Bitcoin trades below the descending moving averages and the major resistance zones overhead. Therefore, the $65K-$67K region remains the key level to monitor in the coming sessions.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart shows a much more constructive picture. BTC has continued to print higher lows since the early July bottom and has successfully defended the $61K-$62K support zone multiple times.

The price is currently testing the upper boundary of a descending wedge structure while simultaneously challenging the supply zone around $65K-$66K. The market has already swept the intra-range liquidity resting above the $61K-$62K support area before accelerating higher toward resistance.

The recent impulsive move suggests buyers remain in control in the short term. However, Bitcoin is now approaching the convergence of the wedge resistance and the higher-timeframe supply zone. This creates a logical area where profit-taking and renewed selling pressure could emerge.

A confirmed breakout above the wedge and the $65K-$66K resistance area would likely trigger a continuation toward $72K-$74K. Conversely, rejection from this zone could lead to another retracement toward the $61K-$62K support region.

Sentiment Analysis

The Spot Average Order Size metric provides valuable insight into current market participation. The chart shows a noticeable increase in large spot transactions after a prolonged decline, suggesting larger market participants have become more active near the recent lows.

Historically, periods where large orders begin to increase after extended weakness often indicate accumulation activity from larger investors rather than aggressive retail participation. The recent uptick in average order size coincides with Bitcoin’s recovery from the $58K-$60K region, supporting the idea that stronger hands may be stepping into the market.

At the same time, the metric remains well below the levels seen during previous major bullish phases, indicating that institutional conviction has not yet fully returned. This suggests the current recovery is improving structurally, but confirmation through higher highs and a breakout above key resistance levels is still required.

Overall, Bitcoin is approaching a pivotal resistance zone between $65K and $67K. A successful breakout would strengthen the bullish recovery narrative and open the path toward $72K-$74K. However, failure to reclaim this region could result in another period of consolidation or a pullback toward lower support levels before the market attempts a larger trend reversal.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTC Pushes Past $65K – Can It Keep Climbing? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The company behind the popular cryptocurrency XRP has been quite active lately, announcing strategic partnerships and unveiling interesting initiatives.

The token remains the subject of numerous price predictions, with analysts split between ultra bulls and those calling for a brutal crash in the near future.

All the Latest Stuff

On July 4th, the USA celebrated its 250th Independence Day, and Ripple joined the festivities. The company teamed up with a nonprofit dedicated to helping unemployed veterans find high-quality jobs after service. The mission is to assist 200,000 people by 2030, with Ripple matching donations up to $10,000. Earlier today, the firm announced that 25 veterans have been selected to receive a $10K grant.

Another recent development also shows Ripple’s growing presence outside traditional crypto initiatives. It joined the x402 Foundation as a premier member alongside Coinbase and Circle.

The project focuses on building open-source standards for AI-powered payments, allowing agents to send, receive, and verify transactions across various networks. Speaking on the collaboration was Markus Infranger, senior vice president of RippleX, who said:

“Open standards like x402 help lay the foundation for trusted, interoperable machine-to-machine payments.”

Other major Ripple achievements as of late include its full authorization as a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) in the European Union and the company’s marketing partnership with the Kansas Jayhawks.

The ETFs Lose Momentum

The launch of the first spot XRP ETF in the US, with 100% exposure to the asset, was a long-awaited event and was expected to increase interest in the token. This became reality in November 2025 when Canary Capital introduced its product, while Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and Grayscale followed suit shortly after.

The financial vehicles were indeed met with great investor enthusiasm, and for many months inflows consistently exceeded outflows. However, there was a sudden turn towards the end of June, and the red days started popping up.

This indicates that conservative investors, such as pension funds and hedge funds, have started reducing their exposure to XRP, which can negatively impact its price. Data from last week shows that the multi-month green-only streak was finally broken, with over $7 million leaving the funds.

XRP Price Outlook

As of press time, the asset trades at around $1.11, representing a 3% increase on a daily scale. Recall that the entire crypto market headed north on July 14 after news that US inflation came in lower than expected.

Crypto X is rammed with analysts who, despite the recent volatility and overall weakness, keep calling for new all-time highs. Among them are Crypto Patel, envisioning an explosion to $9, and Celal Kucuker, projecting a possible rise to $7 later this year.

The bears, though, also have their strong arguments. X user Diana noted that XRP recently briefly lost the $1.08 support, which could trigger a short-term sell-off to as low as $0.87.

The post Ripple (XRP) News Today: July 15 appeared first on CryptoPotato.