Houthi attacks double southern Red Sea shipping insurance costs. Bab al-Mandeb Strait effectively closed by September 30 at 23% YES.

The post Houthi attacks double southern Red Sea shipping insurance costs appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Memecoins paired with tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain are generating millions in volume and creating feedback loops that affect actual equity

The post Memecoins paired with tokenized stocks are now moving actual stock prices appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Trump warns of Iran's nuclear ambitions, signaling a tougher U.S. stance. Iran Reconstruction Funding in a 2026 deal at 28.5% YES.

The post Trump warns of Iran’s “evil intentions,” vows to block nuclear ambitions appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The Clarity Act aims to redefine crypto regulation for digital commodities. Clarity Act signed into law by 2026 at 36.5% YES.

The post Clarity Act could redefine crypto regulation, impact Ethereum, Solana platforms appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

US-Saudi nuclear deal now linked to Saudi-Israel normalization, complicating U.S.-Iran talks. Reconstruction funding in a U.S.-Iran deal at 28.5% YES.

The post US-Saudi nuclear deal now tied to Saudi-Israel normalization: Trump appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Slumps But These Mining Stocks Are Up Thanks to AI Deals

Bitcoin may be slumping — along with the Nasdaq in general — but one technology investment seems to be doing well: publicly-traded mining companies. 

Top U.S. Bitcoin mining companies — Hut 8, CleanSpark, and MARA — all experienced gains between 3-7% on Thursday, despite a sell-off across other assets. 

The Bitcoin price was down about 2% Thursday, trading for $64,760. Major stock indices also took a hit — including the tech heavy Nasdaq — but a handful of miners continued to rally on new deals related to high-powered computing and artificial intelligence. 

Hut 8 announced Monday that it had signed a second 15-year lease for 352 megawatts of IT capacity at its Beacon Point campus in Nueces County, Texas — doubling the site’s tenant to 704 MW of contracted capacity and fully commercializing the campus against its 1,000 MW of utility capacity.

And on Tuesday, IREN Limited signed $2.8 billion in new AI cloud contracts. Formerly a Bitcoin miner, IREN is now transitioning to mostly providing high-powered computing to power AI demand. 

Both experienced price jumps Thursday morning in New York, with Hut 8 sustaining its rally. 

AI deals 

A number of Bitcoin miners are focusing on the industry as minting the biggest cryptocurrency becomes harder and demand for AI compute surges. 

As the price Bitcoin has dipped, it has become harder for Bitcoin miners to make ends meet. 

Instead of dropping mining operations completely, a number of Bitcoin miners have instead marketed themselves as “compute” or “digital infrastructure” companies while switching between minting digital coins and providing compute for AI — depending on which is more profitable.

Top miners Terawulf, IREN, and Cipher Mining all last year signed multi-year HPC contracts with Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft.

Both the crypto mining and HPC industries require huge amounts of energy and data centers. However, running AI data centres require more expertise than Bitcoin mining.

This post Bitcoin Slumps But These Mining Stocks Are Up Thanks to AI Deals first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

BlackRock Says Crypto Can Outrun the Quantum Threat — If It Moves Fast Enough

BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, has chimed in on the crypto-quantum debate — and is surprisingly optimistic.

The firm, which manages over $15 trillion in assets, said in its new report, Quantum Computing and Blockchains, that upgrading existing cryptography to quantum-resistant standards is a far easier task than actually building a functional quantum computer capable of breaking that cryptography. 

“In our view, PQ migration for cryptocurrencies is eminently addressable from a technical

standpoint, and the key challenge is one of timely coordination and implementation,” the report read. 

The crypto community has sounded the alarm about hypothetical advancements in quantum computers that could in the future be able to break Bitcoin’s cryptography. Some in the space — including Bitcoin developers — have started preparing for a post-quantum future by testing quantum-resistant signatures on live sidechains. 

Quantum computers do exist but make mistakes and a machine that can break Bitcoin’s cryptography currently does not exist. Bitcoin currently is the biggest computer network in existence. 

BlackRock has skin in the game after having debuted in 2024 spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds. BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund had the most successful launch in the history of the ETF industry. 

BlackRock boss Larry Fink has also talked of Bitcoin being “digital gold” and an “international asset” and has spoken about how crypto networks can help tokenize everything. 

BlackRock’s views on Bitcoin 

The report said that while solutions exist for protecting Bitcoin against quantum computers — it is technically simple to upgrade — coordination is hard given the cryptocurrency’s decentralized, consensus-driven development.

BlackRock noted that about 35% of circulating Bitcoin’s supply is potentially vulnerable to certain attack types due to exposed public keys, and 11-19% may be permanently lost regardless of migration.

Along with crypto bigwigs like Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Block, BlackRock on Thursday announced a new Bitcoin Security Consortium aimed at donating funds to engineers to help their open-source work supporting proposals like BIP-360.

The asset manager added in the report that while BIP-360 is a credible, well-designed piece of a larger puzzle, it stopped short of calling it the solution. Still, it added that Bitcoin and other crypto networks had the advantage. 

“That said, it is a much less daunting task to upgrade current cryptographic systems (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others) to a quantum-secure standard than it is to build a CRQC from where quantum computing progress stands today,” the report noted. 

“Thus, advantage remains decidedly with the defense, at the current juncture.”

This post BlackRock Says Crypto Can Outrun the Quantum Threat — If It Moves Fast Enough first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Goldman Sachs Backs the Clarity Act, Splitting Wall Street Over Crypto Rules

Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO David Solomon has thrown his support behind the Clarity Act, the crypto market-structure bill moving through the Senate, a stance that sets one of Wall Street’s largest banks apart from rivals lining up against it.

“I’m very supportive of moving the Clarity Act forward, so we can get some market structure in place and start to move the innovation process along,” Solomon said in an interview with Politico. He called the bill imperfect, and said its value lies in creating “a level playing field to enhance market stability and allow these markets to develop appropriately.”

Solomon spoke after Senate Republicans began circulating new text of the bill this week, ahead of a possible floor vote. His endorsement lands against a wave of opposition from other bankers, chief among them JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, who declared war on the bill and, in May, upbraided Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong over the industry’s lobbying.

Banks split over stablecoin yield

The split runs along business lines. The fight centers on a provision that governs stablecoin yield, the rewards crypto platforms can pay users who hold dollar-pegged tokens. Commercial and community banks warn the language would pull deposits out of insured accounts and cut into local lending.

Six of the largest banking trade groups, including the American Bankers Association, published a statement Wednesday that called the Clarity Act and its provisions a risk to “the local lending that drives economic activity in the U.S.” The ABA has pushed to strip the yield language, and labor unions have joined the opposition.

Investment banks like Goldman, less reliant on consumer deposits, have trained their focus on other parts of the bill. 

Solomon pointed to language that would let “regulated institutions that have been on the sidelines participate more actively,” a green light for old-guard firms to use digital assets and blockchain rails. “Goldman Sachs’s position is that we believe strongly that we need one system where everybody can participate,” he said, and declined to weigh in on other bankers’ views.

The stance fits Goldman’s own turn toward the asset. The bank has disclosed a $1.1 billion position in a spot bitcoin ETF, called the funds an “astonishing success,” and Solomon has revealed a small personal bitcoin holding.

The bill’s stablecoin section holds the Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise, which bars passive yield on idle balances while it permits narrow activity-based rewards, a line the banking lobby says leaves too much room.

The measure has moved through bipartisan talks for months. The House passed its version in July 2025, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced its text in a 15-9 vote in May. 

The Clarity Act still faces an uphill battle

The path to the floor for the Clarity Act stays murky. Republican senators John Curtis of Utah and John Cornyn of Texas told Punchbowl News they share the banks’ worry over deposit flight. “Crypto is not going to be loaning any money for small businesses,” Cornyn said. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana hinted at concerns of his own.

The sharpest problem is ethics. The new Clarity Act draft would bar federal officials from issuing digital assets, language negotiated between Senators Cynthia Lummis, Bernie Moreno, and the White House. Democrats call it too weak, in part because they distrust the Trump Justice Department to enforce limits on the president. 

President Trump and his family made more than $1 billion from crypto ventures over the past year, a windfall that has fueled Democratic demands for reform. A group of seven Democrats led by Angela Alsobrooks said Wednesday the text “falls short” on consumer protection, illicit finance, and conflicts of interest.

Lummis framed the Clarity Act standoff without illusion. “There’s not going to be a provision that makes opponents of the president happy that also makes the president happy,” she said to Punchbowl. Majority Leader John Thune aims for a vote in the coming week, a window that lawmakers say may decide whether the bill lives or dies before the August recess.

This post Goldman Sachs Backs the Clarity Act, Splitting Wall Street Over Crypto Rules first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase Builds Post-Quantum Custody System, Funds Bitcoin’s Crypto Upgrade

Coinbase is preparing for future scenarios where quantum computers may be able to crack Bitcoin’s current cryptography.

America’s biggest crypto exchange said Thursday that while the threat isn’t imminent, hard problems — such as migrating millions of users and coordinating protocol upgrades across decentralized systems — need to be solved. 

Quantum computers are still experimental and make mistakes but some in the crypto community have sounded the alarm about hypothetical advancements in the machines that could in the future be able to break Bitcoin’s cryptography. 

“There’s a lot of noise about quantum computing right now,” Coinbase said. “Some of it is hype. Some of it is fear. And some of it is real.”

The publicly-listed company added that a large-scale quantum computer capable of breaking current cryptography will eventually be built, and so the work to prepare needs to start now, “not when it’s urgent.”

The gameplan

The exchange added that its Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain, formed earlier this year, plans to deliver a post-quantum signing pipeline using secure enclaves and threshold cryptography.

Coinbase said that currently, its key management system protects approximately 99.9% of the assets the company custodies. But within the next year, the company will deliver an automated signing pipeline that will allow quantum-safe custody as soon as blockchains begin adopting post-quantum schemes.

It added that it was bringing together Bitcoin core developers, cryptographers and researchers to discuss post-quantum migration strategy, with plans to continue these regularly.

“Preparing Bitcoin for a post-quantum world is one of the most consequential and complex challenges the protocol has ever faced,” the exchange said. 

Coinbase is also a founding member of the new Bitcoin Security Consortium — alongside BlackRock, Fidelity Digital Assets, Block, and others — which donates funds and dedicates engineers to open-source work supporting proposals like BIP-360.

The quantum “threat”

Crypto companies and protocols have been planning for a hypothetical future where quantum computers can break top cryptography ever since Google researchers last year said that improvements in the computers may allow them to be able to break the cryptography protecting major cryptocurrencies in just nine minutes.

Some in the community have called the warnings overblown, but others have already started preparing for a post-quantum future by testing quantum-resistant signatures on live sidechains. 

This post Coinbase Builds Post-Quantum Custody System, Funds Bitcoin’s Crypto Upgrade first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Kazakhstan Moves to Build a National Crypto Reserve Funded by Bitcoin Miners

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kazakhstan as a bitcoin mining hub

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

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

Other crypto tasked 

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

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

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

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

This post Kazakhstan Moves to Build a National Crypto Reserve Funded by Bitcoin Miners first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

The SEC will pay $150,000 in legal fees and review how it preserves records as part of a July 22 settlement ending a Coinbase-backed public-records lawsuit.

History Associates, the company working with Coinbase, filed the lawsuit on June 27, 2024. The case closed with a deal before a judge ever weighed the SEC’s conduct. The public record includes no admission of wrongdoing. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal called the outcome a win for transparency.

The detailed scope of the retention work remains unclear. Reuters described the commitment as fixing records-retention policies, while Law360 reported that the agency would share its document-retention policies.

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The SEC must also release two documents it previously withheld and review its records and text-message preservation. What those documents contain and when they must be released have not been publicly established.

Why the preservation review matters

The two documents are just one piece of the story. Public-records requests depend on agencies keeping the messages people may later ask to see.

In September 2025, the SEC's inspector general found that avoidable device-management errors caused the loss of former Chair Gary Gensler's texts from Oct. 18, 2022, through Sept. 6, 2023. The watchdog said the missing messages likely included federal records.

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Sep 11, 2025 · Gino Matos

For FOIA requesters, the distinction is practical: an agency can search and disclose only records it has captured and retained. Clearer controls could also make policy decisions easier to reconstruct after officials leave office, even when a request arrives years later.

Nothing in the settlement reports establishes that those texts were recovered. The real test is whether the review helps the SEC keep track of its communications before they slip through the cracks.

Stronger controls could affect future requests involving crypto policy or enforcement, even when History Associates filed the request, with Coinbase backing the case. The settlement could shape how the SEC handles records far beyond this dispute.

Another Coinbase-backed records fight pulled back the curtain on the FDIC’s treatment of banks’ crypto business, exposing pause letters.

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The next concrete signals will be the release of the two reported documents and any public explanation of the SEC's preservation review.

Those disclosures will show whether the settlement changes how the agency protects and produces records in practice, rather than merely closing one lawsuit.

The post SEC pays $150,000 as Coinbase-backed Freedom Of Information Act settlement releases two withheld documents appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The crypto market slump wiped $112 million from Tesla’s pretax second-quarter results. The unrealized loss reduced earnings for common stockholders by $87 million after tax, or $0.02 per diluted share.

The carrying value of Tesla's digital assets fell to $674 million at June 30, 2026, from $786 million at March 31, 2026, according to the company's Q2 shareholder update.

Tesla's March 31, 2026, filing reported that Bitcoin made up the majority of its digital assets, including 11,509 BTC acquired for $386 million.

The June 30 shareholder deck did not disclose a coin count or any digital-asset disposition, and Tesla's investor-relations page listed no Q2 Form 10-Q when checked on July 23, 2026.

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May 22, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Why the loss hit GAAP earnings

Under the Financial Accounting Standards Board's crypto-asset standard, covered holdings are measured at fair value each reporting period, with changes recognized in net income. That makes the earnings effect symmetrical: rising prices can generate an unrealized gain, while falling prices can produce an unrealized loss before any sale.

Tesla's preferred adjusted measure tells a different story. Its Q2 reconciliation added back the full $112 million digital-asset loss when calculating adjusted EBITDA of $3.273 billion.

The paper loss dragged down Tesla’s GAAP earnings but left adjusted EBITDA untouched. It also did not take cash out of the business.

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Jul 7, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

The difference reshapes how Tesla’s earnings look on paper, not its broader balance-sheet exposure.

The $674 million digital-asset balance represented about 0.454% of Tesla's $148.524 billion in total assets at quarter-end. Tesla is therefore not operating like a dedicated Bitcoin treasury company whose capital strategy centers on accumulating the asset, even though crypto volatility can still leave a visible mark on its reported profit.

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The Q2 result also shows the reverse of Tesla's fourth-quarter 2024 fair-value benefit. CryptoSlate reported that the accounting treatment contributed a $600 million lift to GAAP net income in that earlier quarter.

If crypto markets keep swinging, Tesla’s reported earnings will swing with them. If Tesla continues the same reconciliation treatment, those swings may again be excluded from adjusted EBITDA.

The next primary filing will be important for any updated Bitcoin unit count or transaction disclosure.

Until then, the change in carrying value establishes the accounting impact, not whether Tesla changed the size of its position.

The post Tesla books $112 million crypto paper loss as digital assets fall to $674 million appeared first on CryptoSlate.

BitMEX, the Seychelles-based crypto exchange founded by Arthur Hayes, announced on July 23 that it will shut down at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 23. Customers now have two months to close positions and withdraw funds, and new registrations have already stopped.

The effective trading deadline arrives sooner. Under BitMEX's wind-down timetable, risk limits take effect at 04:00 UTC on Aug. 26, after which users will only be able to reduce positions.

BitMEX may force-close contracts during the wind-down and will immediately close anything still open at the Sept. 23 cutoff. The notice describes no position-transfer mechanism, so any exposure opened elsewhere would be a separate trade.

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Customers who miss the closure time will still be able to log in to view balances and records and request withdrawals. However, KYC-verified accounts retaining assets will face a fee charged monthly at the greater of $50 equivalent or 1% per year on the remaining balance.

BitMEX also warned that additional reviews and blockchain constraints could delay withdrawals and said there is no priority service for moving funds.

Where BitMEX flow may move

No public data currently tracks where BitMEX customers are moving, so possible destinations can only be inferred from existing market scale, depth and product availability. A same-day CoinGecko snapshot showed about $120.84 million in 24-hour BitMEX volume and $705.33 million in open interest. Binance Futures showed $45.68 billion in 24-hour volume and $25.10 billion in open interest on the same provider.

There is no public trail showing where BitMEX customers are heading. Market size, liquidity and product choice offer the best clues. A same-day CoinGecko snapshot put BitMEX at $120.84 million in 24-hour volume and $705.33 million in open interest, compared with $45.68 billion and $25.10 billion, respectively, for Binance Futures.

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The gap makes Binance the most obvious destination by scale. TokenInsight's Q2 report put Binance, OKX, Bybit and MEXC at a combined 72.46% of its covered derivatives market.

CoinGlass also ranks Binance first in derivatives volume, average open interest and BTC futures depth, with OKX, Bybit, Gate and Bitget forming the rest of its centralized top-five competitive set. Eligibility, collateral and matching contracts will shape each trader's choice.

Hyperliquid is also a plausible onchain option for eligible users. CryptoSlate reported in June that the venue had $240.5 billion in 30-day perpetual volume and $8.6 billion in open interest. The available data points to dispersion across already-deep pools rather than one new home.

That would marginally reinforce concentration, but BitMEX's 24-hour turnover is only about 0.26% of Binance's, limiting the likely market-wide volume displacement even as the deadlines remain absolute for customers.

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Jun 18, 2026 · Gino Matos

The post BitMEX shutdown gives traders 2 months to withdraw, but active positions face an earlier deadline appeared first on CryptoSlate.

BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy are backing a $15 million effort to prepare Bitcoin against future quantum-computing attacks.

The companies are among nine founding members of the Bitcoin Security Consortium, announced July 23 to support developers and researchers working on the network’s long-term security.

The consortium also includes Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy, bringing together asset managers, custodians, exchanges, infrastructure providers and companies with substantial businesses or holdings tied to Bitcoin.

Quantum computing will be the group’s first focus as advances in the technology draw greater attention to cryptographic systems that could eventually become vulnerable.

Phong Le, Chief Executive Officer of Strategy, said:

“As long-term holders, we have every incentive to see Bitcoin remain secure for generations. Funding the people who do this work, and helping inform the conversation around it, is a natural way for us to contribute.”

Quantum advances raise pressure on Bitcoin’s security timeline

The institutional funding push comes as governments and technology researchers step up preparations for cryptography that can withstand future quantum computers.

Over the past year, researchers, including teams involving Google Quantum AI, have lowered estimates of the computing resources that could eventually be needed to break the type of cryptography Bitcoin uses.

Bitcoin relies on elliptic-curve cryptography to create digital signatures proving that a holder controls the private key required to spend coins.

Conventional computers cannot feasibly reverse that relationship, but a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could theoretically derive a private key from its corresponding public key.

That creates a potential vulnerability for Bitcoin whose public keys have already been revealed on the blockchain.

A Dune Analytics dashboard shows more than 7 million BTC in outputs with exposed public keys, representing about 34.9% of the supply covered by its analysis.

Those holdings were worth roughly $460.8 billion at recent prices, while the amount classified as exposed increased by about 77,275 BTC during the most recent complete month.

Those coins cannot be stolen through quantum attacks today because no cryptographically relevant quantum computer capable of breaking Bitcoin’s signatures is known to exist. The concern is how long the network would need to prepare if advances continue reducing the resources required for such an attack.

Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards has pointed to that uncertainty, recently saying his proprietary “quantum discount factor” for Bitcoin had reached 30% and describing quantum computing as the network’s largest long-term technical threat.

The combination of growing exposed supply and lower estimates for a future attack helps explain why Bitcoin-linked institutions are funding research years before such machines are expected to become viable.

Any move to quantum-resistant signatures would require developers to design, review and test new cryptography before wallets, exchanges, miners, node operators and users could adopt it across the network.

For BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy and the consortium’s other members, funding that work now gives developers more time to prepare while the threat remains theoretical.

Corporate funding cannot resolve Bitcoin’s quantum dilemma

The consortium’s structure is designed to limit corporate influence, but those safeguards also show how little control its members have over Bitcoin’s eventual quantum defense.

Putting millions of dollars from some of Bitcoin’s largest corporate stakeholders behind open-source development raises an immediate governance question: how to support the network without allowing financial backers to steer its technical direction.

The consortium appointed Mike Schmidt, executive director of Bitcoin developer funding nonprofit Brink, to coordinate its day-to-day work on a volunteer basis.

Schmidt said he spoke individually with each member before accepting the role, seeking assurances that the initiative would remain compatible with Bitcoin’s decentralized development model.

To ensure this, the group has adopted two main safeguards.

It will not pool members’ funding or select grant recipients. Each company will independently decide which developers, researchers and organizations receive its money.

The consortium will also take no official position on changes to Bitcoin’s protocol. Members can express their own views, but the group will neither develop the protocol nor direct the contributors maintaining it.

Those restrictions allow BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy and the other members to put more resources behind quantum research without deciding which solution Bitcoin ultimately adopts.

That distinction becomes more important as the network moves from identifying the threat to deciding how to address it.

No government, company or developer group can impose a new signature system across Bitcoin. Any major cryptographic change would need to be designed, reviewed and tested before gaining adoption among developers, wallet providers, exchanges, miners, node operators and users.

Galaxy has said the number of developers working specifically on Bitcoin’s quantum resilience remains small relative to the scale of the problem. More funding could expand that pool, but it cannot eliminate the technical and governance trade-offs surrounding a migration.

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One of the hardest questions is what should happen to Bitcoin that remains protected by older signatures after quantum-resistant alternatives become available.

BIP-361, a draft proposal co-authored by Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp and other developers, outlines a phased migration away from ECDSA and Schnorr signatures.

The proposal would first prevent users from sending additional BTC to outputs considered vulnerable to quantum attacks.

Later stages would tighten the rules around spending legacy coins while introducing proposed rescue mechanisms intended to distinguish legitimate owners from attackers who had derived private keys using quantum computers.

One possible approach could allow owners of deterministic wallets to prove knowledge of information derived from their original wallet seed that a quantum attacker would not possess. Researchers have also discussed zero-knowledge and commit-reveal methods for recovering affected coins.

Those approaches may not cover every type of Bitcoin output.

The BIP-361 authors say some older pay-to-public-key outputs do not provide the same apparent advantage to legitimate owners, leaving unresolved questions over how those coins could remain spendable without also remaining vulnerable to a future quantum attacker. The proposal discusses compatibility with a separate approach known as Hourglass for some of those holdings.

That leaves developers facing a difficult trade-off.

Keeping legacy signatures usable indefinitely could eventually expose some coins to quantum theft. Restricting them too aggressively could leave legitimate holders unable to spend bitcoin they failed to migrate in time.

BIP-361 remains a draft, and its inclusion in the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal repository does not mean the network has accepted the plan.

The consortium can fund more people to work on those problems and give developers more time to prepare. However, it cannot settle the choices Bitcoin’s users may eventually have to make.

The post $460 billion Bitcoin risk draws BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy into $15M quantum defense mission appeared first on CryptoSlate.

On July 22, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that some crypto vaults and onchain lending strategies may fall under federal securities laws.

According to her, the regulatory risk depends on how the products are structured and who controls the investment decisions.

Crypto vaults pool customer assets into onchain strategies that generate yield through lending, staking and other activities, with some relying on professional managers to choose markets, approve collateral and set risk parameters.

Peirce did not identify any companies or suggest that existing products violate securities laws. However, her warning comes as several companies, including Bitwise, Coinbase, and Kraken, enter the rapidly expanding market.

How crypto vaults and onchain lending could fall under securities law

The legal risk for these products increases when a vault shifts from automated software to professional managers making decisions over customer assets.

Peirce said vaults can range from immutable smart contracts that follow predetermined rules to actively managed products in which curators choose lending markets, move assets between strategies and adjust risk parameters.

Larry Florio, deputy general counsel at synthetic-dollar developer Ethena Labs, said that distinction sits at the center of the regulatory question.

“Vault designs aren’t uniform,” Florio said. Software executing predetermined functions can resemble an administrative process, while people making allocation decisions introduce the type of managerial effort considered under securities law, he explained.

That distinction could determine whether some vaults qualify as investment contracts.

Peirce noted that firms that select yield opportunities, reallocate customer assets or appoint others to make those decisions should consider whether users are contributing assets to a common enterprise with an expectation of profits generated through managerial efforts.

The assets held by a vault can create additional obligations. A vehicle that owns securities or directs customer funds into securities could fall under investment-company rules.

On the other hand, a product with largely fixed portfolio could resemble a unit investment trust, while a strategy that regularly reallocates assets could look more like a managed investment company.

At the same time, products offering individualized treatment could also share characteristics with separately managed accounts, potentially raising investment-adviser questions for the firms overseeing them.

Onchain lending introduces another potential route into securities law, even when the assets being borrowed or lent are not securities themselves.

Peirce said managers who set interest rates, determine eligible collateral, establish loan-to-value ratios or control liquidation thresholds should examine whether those activities create regulatory obligations.

The loans themselves could also come under scrutiny. Depending on how they are structured, distributed and used, some could have the characteristics of notes that qualify as securities under the US Supreme Court’s framework in Reves v. Ernst & Young.

Still, none of those features automatically makes a vault or lending strategy subject to federal securities laws.

Peirce said the outcome ultimately depends on the product’s structure, underlying assets and the degree of discretion exercised by those managing it.

Onchain yield pushes deeper into mainstream finance

Those regulatory views are gaining urgency as major financial firms make onchain lending accessible to customers outside decentralized finance.

Coinbase has expanded USDC lending through Morpho, allowing eligible users to deposit the stablecoin into onchain vaults directly from its app. Customers can choose between two strategies curated by Steakhouse Financial, each with different collateral and risk profiles.

Kraken entered the market in May with a Bitcoin vault that allocates customer assets across protocols including Aave and Morpho. The product offers variable returns of up to 2.5%, paid in Bitcoin, with Veda providing the infrastructure and Sentora managing strategy design and risk.

At the same time, traditional asset managers are also adopting the model.

Bitwise, the $15 billion asset manager, launched its first onchain vault through Morpho in January. Its investment team sets collateral requirements, exposure limits and allocation rules, while customer assets remain onchain.

These products reflect growing institutional interest in a market that has expanded sharply.

Deposits in crypto vaults reached about $131 billion in April 2026, up from $24 billion three years earlier, S&P Global Ratings said. About 94% remained concentrated in crypto-native activities such as staking, crypto-backed lending and yield aggregation.

Bitwise expects assets in professionally managed vaults to double this year and has described the products as potential “ETFs 2.0.”

S&P sees a broader opportunity as more traditional assets move onto blockchains. The ratings firm said vaults could eventually perform functions associated with private credit, private equity, money market funds and hedge funds.

Crypto vaults could test the limits of the SEC’s crypto thaw

The growth of managed crypto vaults could test how far the SEC’s retreat from aggressive crypto enforcement can extend.

For much of the past 18 months, the agency has moved away from the enforcement-led approach that placed crypto lending, staking and intermediary services under sustained legal pressure.

Under former Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC sued companies including Coinbase over products it alleged involved unregistered securities. That posture shifted after President Donald Trump returned to office, with the agency creating a Crypto Task Force and pursuing a regulatory framework intended to provide clearer paths for crypto businesses.

Peirce’s latest statement does not signal a return to that earlier enforcement campaign. Instead, it draws a boundary around the SEC’s more accommodating approach as crypto firms increasingly offer products that resemble traditional lending and asset management.

“The securities laws do not apply to all crypto assets and activities,” Peirce said, but that does not mean they apply to none.

She warned firms against using “headstands, backflips, and other gymnastics” to argue that securities laws do not cover activities already within their scope. Businesses operating inside that perimeter should instead work with the SEC to find a compliant path, she said.

That distinction could become more important as professional managers take greater control over vault allocations, collateral requirements and risk parameters.

Those features may make the products more attractive to mainstream investors, but they can also make them resemble financial arrangements already governed by securities laws.

Meanwhile, Peirce’s statement carries an important limitation. It reflects the view of one commissioner rather than a Commission rule, formal agency action or staff guidance.

However, her position as head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force nevertheless gives the intervention added weight. The task force has been charged with clarifying regulatory boundaries, developing workable registration paths and helping shape the agency’s approach to crypto enforcement.

Peirce also left room for the regulatory framework itself to change. She said the SEC must respect limits imposed by Congress and invited firms to engage with the agency when existing securities rules unnecessarily impede new technology or protect incumbent financial structures.

Florio described that approach as “an invitation, not a threat,” pointing to Peirce’s willingness to discuss whether existing rules should be adapted for onchain finance.

But that invitation does not remove the legal boundary she identified. Vault operators that fall within federal securities laws could still face registration, disclosure, or investment-adviser requirements, while other structures may remain outside SEC oversight or qualify for exemptions.

That leaves the emerging vault market in a markedly friendlier regulatory environment than crypto lenders faced several years ago, but not an unrestricted one.

The post $131 billion crypto vault boom will test the limits of SEC’s friendlier crypto stance appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin and the wider crypto market moved sharply lower on Thursday as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran pushed oil above $100 per barrel. The renewed geopolitical uncertainty erased part of this week’s crypto recovery and returned inflation and interest-rate concerns to the center of the market.

Bitcoin fell below $65,000 after recently approaching $67,000. Ethereum slipped under $1,900, while XRP, Solana, Dogecoin and Cardano recorded even larger daily losses.

The immediate question is whether this is a temporary reaction to breaking news or the beginning of another significant crypto correction.

Why Did Oil Rise Above $100?

Brent crude jumped approximately 7% to more than $100 per barrel, reaching its highest level in nearly two months. West Texas Intermediate also moved above $90.

The surge followed attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. The group also threatened to disrupt Saudi oil shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

These attacks are particularly concerning because shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has already been severely disrupted. If both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea become increasingly dangerous for tankers, a substantial share of global energy supplies could face delays or complete interruption.

US President Donald Trump subsequently promised significant military punishment against Iran and its regional allies, raising concerns that the conflict could expand further.

Goldman Sachs analysts have warned that Brent crude could rise above $120 if the supply disruption continues.

Why Is Bitcoin Falling When Oil Rises?

Bitcoin does not depend directly on oil, but a major energy shock can affect nearly every risk asset.

Higher oil prices increase transportation, manufacturing and electricity costs. Businesses frequently pass those costs on to consumers, creating another source of inflation.

If inflation starts accelerating again, the Federal Reserve may be unable to reduce interest rates. It could even consider additional rate increases if price pressures become severe enough.

That possibility is already entering market expectations. Following oil’s surge, traders reportedly began assigning an almost 40% probability to a Federal Reserve rate hike at its next meeting. Only a few days earlier, the probability had been in the single digits.

Higher rates generally hurt Bitcoin, technology stocks and other speculative investments. Investors can earn more from government bonds while taking considerably less risk, reducing the appeal of non-yielding assets.

Crypto Market Turns Red

Bitcoin was trading around $64,700 after falling roughly 2% over 24 hours. The decline followed its rejection near the important $67,000 resistance level.

Ethereum dropped close to 3% to approximately $1,888, losing the psychologically important $1,900 level. The damage was more pronounced among several major altcoins:

• XRP declined approximately 3.8%.
• Solana fell around 3%.
• Dogecoin lost nearly 5%.
• Cardano dropped more than 5.5%.
• Stellar declined approximately 4.5%.

Hyperliquid, Zcash and Monero were among the few major cryptocurrencies remaining positive during the same period.

The performance suggests investors are reducing exposure to higher-risk altcoins first. This is typical during periods of geopolitical uncertainty, when liquidity moves toward cash, government bonds and other defensive assets.

Bitcoin’s Safe-Haven Narrative Faces Another Test

Bitcoin is frequently presented as digital gold and a hedge against political instability. However, its reaction to the latest Iran escalation tells a more complicated story.

Instead of rising alongside geopolitical risk, Bitcoin declined with stocks. This suggests that traders are still treating BTC primarily as a risk asset, especially when an international crisis threatens inflation and monetary policy.

Bitcoin may benefit from currency debasement and long-term concerns about government debt. In the short term, however, sudden market shocks often lead investors to sell liquid assets to reduce risk or cover losses elsewhere.

This does not necessarily invalidate Bitcoin’s long-term safe-haven argument. It does show that Bitcoin can behave very differently from gold during the initial stage of a crisis.

Can Bitcoin Recover?

The $64,000 to $65,000 area is now the first important zone to watch. If Bitcoin stabilizes above this region, the decline could remain a normal correction following its 13% recovery from July’s lows.

A rebound would need to push BTC back above $67,000. Breaking that resistance could reopen the path toward $70,000 and then the 200-day moving average near $72,800.

The bearish scenario would begin with a decisive loss of $64,000. That could expose the recent support zones around $62,000 and $60,000. Altcoins would likely experience proportionally larger losses if Bitcoin moves toward those levels.

The next move will depend heavily on developments in the Middle East. Any indication of de-escalation or restored shipping routes could pull oil lower and help crypto recover. Additional attacks on tankers, energy facilities or strategic waterways could push oil higher and extend the risk-off move.

Is Another Crypto Crash Coming?

The current decline is not yet large enough to confirm a new crypto crash. Bitcoin remains above its recent lows, and the market has not experienced the type of widespread liquidation cascade normally associated with a major breakdown.

However, the combination of $100 oil, rising bond yields, renewed rate-hike expectations and escalating military action creates a dangerous environment for speculative assets.

Crypto investors should therefore watch oil alongside Bitcoin. As long as Brent remains above $100 and the conflict continues expanding, BTC may struggle to regain $67,000—even if ETF demand and regulatory developments remain supportive.

For now, geopolitical risk has taken control of the market, and Bitcoin’s next major move may be decided outside the crypto industry.

Ethereum is knocking on the door of $2,000. After bottoming near $1,500 in June, $ETH has staged one of its most constructive recoveries of the year, climbing steadily through July to trade at $1,921 at the time of writing. The chart shows a clean sequence of higher lows, and the daily RSI at roughly 60 and rising confirms that momentum has swung firmly back to buyers. The question now is whether ETH can convert this momentum into a breakout above the psychologically loaded $2,000 mark.

Where does Ethereum trade right now?

ETH is changing hands around $1,921, down a marginal 0.63% on the day but comfortably inside its July uptrend. The recovery has been orderly rather than explosive: price reclaimed the $1,800 zone and has been holding above it, turning former resistance into fresh support. The 4H structure reveals a clear and steady uptrend throughout July — a series of higher lows building from $1,450 through $1,600, $1,700, $1,800, and now approaching $1,900 — the most constructive price structure ETH has shown all year. That structural shift is what separates the current move from the failed bounces earlier in 2026.

What are the key resistance levels for ETH?

The immediate battle is at $2,000 (marked orange on the chart). This is both a psychological round number and a technical ceiling where prior selling clustered. Above it, the next major hurdle sits at $2,400 (yellow), the level that capped ETH throughout April and May, followed by the green line at $2,600. A daily close above $2,000 would open the path toward that $2,400 zone; until then, ETH remains in a recovery phase rather than a confirmed breakout. Broader forecasts echo this: longer-term forecasts can still point above $2,000–$2,500 by year-end, but that now depends on ETF stabilization, stronger liquidity, and renewed risk appetite.

What are the downside support levels?

On the way down, $1,800 is the first line of defense — the level ETH just reclaimed and must now hold to keep the bullish structure intact. Below that, support steps down to $1,600, then $1,540, and finally $1,400 (all marked yellow), which roughly aligns with June's capitulation lows. Losing $1,800 on a daily close would be the first warning that the July recovery is unwinding.

Ethereum price prediction: high and low targets

Putting the chart together with current momentum, here's how the near-term scenarios break down.

• Bullish target (high): A confirmed daily close above $2,000 clears the way toward $2,400, with the RSI still having room before overbought territory. This is the higher-probability path while ETH holds above $1,800.
• Bearish target (low): A rejection at $2,000 followed by a break of $1,800 support puts $1,600 and then $1,540 back in play. A deeper flush would retest the $1,400 zone.

Analyst forecasts broadly align with the upside case. Ethereum's July 2026 price prediction targets $1,960, with a range of $1,718–$1,960, while some models see momentum extending into August. It's worth noting that the monthly close carries outsized weight here: if ETH closes July above $2,050, some traders are targeting $4,000 and above, along with a new all-time high this cycle.

BitMEX announced the closure of its exchange, which will take effect on 23 September 2026 at 04:00:00 UTC. The exchange was co-founded by Arthur Hayes, and the decision follows a strategic review by owner HDR Global Trading Limited. With immediate effect, the platform has stopped all new account registrations.

Why is BitMEX shutting down?

Following a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry, the board of HDR Global Trading Limited, owner and operator of BitMEX, decided to close the exchange. The company did not cite financial difficulties or regulatory action as the reason, describing the move instead as the outcome of a broader strategic assessment. BitMEX also did not disclose what the review found, or whether the sale process that began last year produced a bidder.

BitMEX was one of the pioneers of crypto derivatives trading and helped popularize perpetual swap contracts — a product that lets traders speculate on asset prices without expiration dates. The team noted it invented the 100x leverage perpetual swap, now the most traded product in the crypto industry.

What happens to my funds?

BitMEX told users their assets remain fully safe and under their control during the transition period. The exchange said assets exceed liabilities per its Proof of Reserves and Liabilities page, and that it lost zero customer funds to hacks across its full operating history.

Users are urged to close all positions and withdraw funds well before the deadline. KYC-verified users who fail to withdraw before the shutdown will incur an account management fee of $50 per month or 1% of the balance, whichever is higher. 

What is the wind-down timeline?

The exchange will continue operating normally until late August before gradually winding down. Starting August 26 at 04:00 UTC, users will no longer be able to open new positions and will only be allowed to reduce or close existing trades. The exchange will force-close remaining open positions ahead of the shutdown to wind down the market in an orderly fashion, and anything still open at the closure time will be force-closed immediately.

BitMEX also confirmed it has unstaked all BMEX tokens held in staking, making them immediately available to holders.

What should users watch out for?

BitMEX warned users of potential phishing scams related to the closure and noted that withdrawal processing may face delays due to blockchain confirmation times. The main challenge the exchange faces is offramping user assets into fiat, as network congestion on the Bitcoin blockchain could cause significant withdrawal delays.

The closure comes amid a shifting competitive landscape. Centralized exchange perpetual futures volume fell 10% to $12.7 trillion in Q2 2026, while decentralized alternatives such as Hyperliquid rose to become the second-largest perpetuals exchange by open interest, behind Binance.

Bitcoin is having its best week in more than a month. A wave of institutional ETF buying, a regulatory breakthrough in Washington, and a shift out of "fear" sentiment have combined to push BTC back toward $67,000. Bitcoin crossed the important $65,000 resistance level as ETF inflows accelerated and the Crypto Fear and Greed Index exited the fear zone, trading at $66,267 on Wednesday — up nearly 15% from its lowest level this year. Here's what's actually moving the market.

How Much Have Bitcoin ETFs Bought This Week?

The headline number circulating on X is close to accurate. Spot $Bitcoin ETFs added $203 million in inflows on Tuesday, marking the sixth consecutive day of inflows and bringing the six-day total to over $928 million. That's nearly $1 billion in fresh institutional demand in less than two weeks.

The buying is heavily concentrated in the usual leaders. On July 21, Bitcoin hit $66,400 — its first time above $66,000 since June 17 — alongside five straight days of net inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs, the longest streak since early May, with roughly $727.3 million entering over five sessions and the final session alone bringing in $226.9 million, the best since July 6. Total Bitcoin ETF assets have surpassed $79 billion, up from about $71 billion in late June.

Why Does the ETF Flow Data Matter?

Because ETF flows are no longer just a sentiment gauge — they're a structural driver of price. The recent inflow run is meaningful precisely because of how deep the hole was. June 2026 alone saw $4.7 billion in outflows from Bitcoin ETFs, the largest monthly exodus since these products came to market, part of $8.2 billion in cumulative outflows during the early summer streak. Set against that backdrop, a six-day, near-billion-dollar reversal represents a genuine shift in institutional posture, not just noise.

Still, it's worth keeping perspective. Even after the recent inflows, 2026 ETF flows remain net negative at about $5.2 billion. The recovery is real, but it's filling a hole rather than breaking new ground — at least for now.

What Did Treasury Secretary Bessent Say About the CLARITY Act?

The second catalyst is regulatory. Bitcoin rose 2.5% at one point on Tuesday, inching toward $67,000, while shares of Coinbase climbed as much as 13% after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said lawmakers were at the "1-yard line" on the CLARITY Act, urging Congress to pass the landmark bill before leaving for recess.

The CLARITY Act is the market-structure bill crypto has been waiting on for over a year. It would split oversight of digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC, set disclosure rules for certain tokens, and extend anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules to crypto exchanges. The House passed its version a year ago, and the measure has waited in the Senate since.

Is the CLARITY Act Actually Going to Pass?

This is where the on-chain optimism meets political reality. Despite Bessent's football metaphor, the path is not clear. The bill needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, and Republicans only have 53 — meaning at least seven Democrats must cross over. Democrats have named their price: rules preventing the president and other senior officials from profiting off crypto.

The betting markets remain skeptical. Polymarket's contract on the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 traded near 47% on Tuesday, up from a record low of 31% earlier this month but still short of a coin flip, while Galaxy Research had cut its passage odds to 50-50, citing the shrinking Senate calendar. With only 14 working days remaining before the recess, even supportive senators are hedging on timing.

What About the Macro Backdrop?

The broader risk picture is more mixed than the bullish crypto posts suggest. Oil has been climbing on geopolitical tension, with US-Iran friction pushing WTI crude to multi-week highs — the kind of energy-price and geopolitical stress that has historically weighed on risk assets, even as Bitcoin has so far shrugged it off this week. Traders should watch whether that resilience holds if tensions escalate further.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Key Levels to Watch

With $BTC near $66,000–$67,000, analysts are watching the next resistance band closely. For a sustained uptrend, Bitcoin needs to hold above the $65,000–$65,500 range. Above current levels, the technical picture is unusually clean: Glassnode data shows only about 1% of Bitcoin supply last changed hands between here and $70,685 — meaning little overhead supply stands in the way of a move higher.

Bottom line: Two catalysts are firing at once — a near-billion-dollar ETF inflow streak and a regulatory bill inching toward the finish line. Both are genuinely bullish. But the ETF recovery is still net-negative year-to-date, and the CLARITY Act's Senate math remains unsolved. The momentum is real; the follow-through is not yet guaranteed.

The AI governance token DeXe (DEXE) just suffered one of the most violent collapses of the 2026 cycle. After printing an all-time high of $48.89 on July 13, the token free-fell to around $4–5, wiping out roughly 85% of its value and erasing billions in nominal market cap. DeXe is down 84.73% to $5.27 in 24h, dramatically underperforming a slightly positive broader market, primarily driven by a severe internal sell-off with no clear external catalyst. The speed and shape of the drop have flooded crypto forums with a single question: was this a rug pull?

What Happened to DeXe?

DEXE went parabolic in early-to-mid July before imploding. DEXE printed a record $48.89 on July 13, 2026, capping a roughly four-day run that started with the July 9 exchange listing. That all-time high capped a violent four-day run that began with an exchange listing and turned into a short squeeze.

From there, the token bled out in stages — first a 10% slide, then a 30% pullback, then a 58% plunge — before the final capitulation leg dropped it to single digits. DeXe (DEXE) plunged 58.13% today after a sharp reversal from recent all-time highs, as heavy selling pressure dominated the session even as its ongoing role as a governance and social trading token in the DeXe Network continued to attract attention. By the time the dust settled, the chart showed a near-vertical collapse from the mid-$30s straight through to the $4 handle.

Why Did DeXe Crash?

There is no confirmed hack or exploit on record. Analysts point instead to concentrated selling into a thin, over-extended market. The extreme drop appears driven by concentrated selling pressure, likely from large holders or panic exits. No specific hacks, partnership cancellations, or negative news were found in the data to explain the crash. 

The setup was fragile long before the drop. Traders were opening short positions on X as Dexe left its maximum coin supply unclarified for the future. The rally itself was built on mechanics rather than fundamentals: the recent price move was driven mostly by a listing catalyst and a short squeeze, so the fundamentals and the parabola are two separate stories that traders should not blur together. 

Skeptics had also flagged warning signs during the pump. Some noted that the white paper and GitHub hadn't been touched in many years, and one analyst framed DEXE as an old project from a previous cycle that's been heavily pumped again in this cycle — a classic profile for a run that ends in a sudden shakeout. 

Was DeXe a Rug Pull?

Strictly, "rug pull" means a team draining liquidity or dumping supply and abandoning the project. What's documented so far looks more like a parabolic blow-off top unwinding on concentrated selling than a confirmed developer exit — but the price action is behaving exactly like a rug. One community member described it as behaving like it got rugged, free-falling from $49 to around six dollars, and pointed to a stale white paper and GitHub as red flags. As of now, no on-chain evidence of a liquidity drain has been publicly confirmed, and the team has not issued a definitive statement. Traders should treat the "rug pull" label as an allegation, not an established fact.

DeXe Crash — Chart Analysis

The attached daily chart tells the story cleanly. DEXE ran from the $8 zone in April up through a stair-step uptrend, accelerating into a near-vertical spike toward the ~$48 all-time high in July. The final candle is the killer: a full-length red bar that opened around $36, wicked down and closed at $4.487, printing a −27.49% session on the chart shown and slicing straight through every intermediate support.

Two horizontal levels matter now. The $20.218 line (the old June consolidation shelf) offered zero support on the way down — price gapped through it in a single wick, a hallmark of a liquidity vacuum rather than orderly selling. The $5.681 level is the last visible structure holding price; a daily close below it opens air toward the low-$4s and below.

The RSI (14) confirms the exhaustion: it collapsed to 26.98, deep into oversold, after the yellow signal line spent the entire rally elevated. Oversold does not mean a floor — in a post-blow-off collapse, RSI can pin near lows for extended periods. Any bounce off $5.68 or $4.50 is more likely a relief pop than a trend reversal until price reclaims and holds higher structure.

Bottom line: DEXE went from a squeeze-fueled 18x parabola to an 85% collapse in days, on heavy selling with no confirmed exploit. Whether it's technically a rug pull or a classic pump-and-dump unwind, the outcome for late buyers is the same. Extreme caution warranted.

The crypto asset manager thinks the four-year cycle is dead, suggesting Bitcoin's price will follow macro forces and the Fed's next move.

The first tokenized livestock deal on Brazil's stock exchange offers dairy farmers a lifeline as the sector's credit crisis deepens.

Nine of the biggest institutional names in Bitcoin formed a consortium to fund the developers working to keep the network secure—including from future quantum computers.

Once-fragmented syndicates have fused into a single, tech-driven criminal economy that increasingly runs on crypto, the UNODC warns.

At least that's what Bitwise's CIO believes. Plus Republicans publish new Clarity Act draft, and the SEC Commissioner has a warning for DeFi.

Bitcoin targets $84,569 as a massive 1.3 million BTC support cluster wipes out sellers, according to UTXO Realized Price Distribution metric.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy reveals why he is exiting XRP at $1.40 instead of waiting for $2.

U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman vows to support moving the long-awaited Clarity Act into its final phase to eventually get it passed.

BitMEX, the legendary crypto derivatives exchange that pioneered 100x leveraged perpetual swaps and reshaped the digital asset trading industry, is shutting down after more than 11 years of operations.

A Revolut user sent $5,000 in Bitcoin to Satoshi Nakamoto’s legendary wallets, burning the cash forever.

Established digital platform AlienWP pivots to specialized iGaming content with comprehensive casino news hub, setting the stage for its forthcoming player comparison tool

AlienWP, originally established as a digital resources hub in 2013, has announced the official launch of its specialized iGaming news portal. The platform will deliver comprehensive coverage of the online casino sector, including regulatory developments, licensing news, promotional offers, and player protection initiatives. This strategic expansion precedes the company’s anticipated rollout of Alien Wise Play, a player-centric comparison dashboard currently in development.

Platform Overview

The newly launched portal is designed to deliver consistent reporting on the online casino landscape, featuring regulatory updates, licensing changes, bonus term analysis, and player safety advisories. According to AlienWP, the initiative seeks to establish a trustworthy, unbiased information source for both players and industry stakeholders, differentiating itself from marketing-driven content prevalent across the sector.

The launch marks a pivotal moment in AlienWP’s evolution from a broad-spectrum digital resource site into a focused iGaming content provider, with additional expansions planned as the Alien Wise Play platform approaches completion.

Behind the Development

Alien Wise Play represents a web-accessible comparison tool currently under construction, designed to enable players to evaluate online casinos, bookmark preferred operators, monitor promotional offerings, and access licensing details to inform their choices. The platform will not function as a casino operator, handle financial transactions, or offer gambling recommendations.

Revenue generation comes through affiliate relationships, though AlienWP emphasizes its positioning as a player-oriented service rather than a conventional affiliate site, prioritizing transparency and responsible gaming principles throughout its design.

At the heart of Alien Wise Play lies the Wise Play Score, a proprietary evaluation framework assessing casinos across multiple dimensions including licensing credentials, trustworthiness, payment dependability, operational transparency, customer service quality, and player safeguards. AlienWP indicates that subsequent iterations will incorporate aggregated user feedback and AI-powered insights while maintaining editorial independence from reviewed operators.

Additional information about the upcoming platform is accessible at Alien Wise Play.

Official Statement

Oliver Dale, speaking on behalf of AlienWP, commented: “Launching our iGaming news portal at this stage ensures players can immediately access transparent, unbiased casino insights as we complete development of Alien Wise Play. Both initiatives stem from a unified vision: providing players with credible information and resources to support safer gambling choices.”

Roadmap Ahead

AlienWP plans to expand its iGaming news operations progressively leading up to Alien Wise Play’s official debut. Additional announcements regarding the platform’s capabilities, including enhanced features of the Wise Play Score, will be released as development milestones are reached.

Company Background

Established in 2013, AlienWP operates as an iGaming news publisher and casino information resource, delivering coverage of online casino developments, operator reviews, regulatory matters, promotional offerings, responsible gaming initiatives, and sector trends. The organization is simultaneously developing Alien Wise Play, a player-focused comparison dashboard enabling users to evaluate operators, monitor promotions, and review comprehensive licensing and safety data. Additional details are available at alienwp.com.

Press Inquiries

Oliver Dale
AlienWP
Website: https://alienwp.com

The post AlienWP Launches Comprehensive iGaming News Hub Before Alien Wise Play Debut appeared first on Blockonomi.

Quick Summary

• Tesla stock tumbled following disappointing quarterly results, with automotive revenue underperforming and profit margins compressing
• Alphabet delivered better-than-expected results but faced scrutiny over escalating artificial intelligence infrastructure investments
• Brent crude surged past the $100-per-barrel threshold for the first time in recent months amid Middle Eastern geopolitical concerns
• Major equity indices declined as technology shares paced losses on AI investment worries and inflation anxieties
• Intel’s upcoming earnings release draws attention as investors seek evidence of advancement in AI capabilities and semiconductor production

Tesla experienced significant selling pressure following the release of quarterly financial results that fell short of Wall Street’s projections. The electric automaker reported underwhelming automotive sales figures, margin compression, and substantial outlays for artificial intelligence initiatives and research and development that weighed on profitability.

Company executives emphasized long-range strategic priorities including self-driving technology and artificial intelligence development, yet the market remained unconvinced. Investor attention centered on the weakening fundamental vehicle business, triggering a substantial share price decline.

Alphabet Delivers Strong Numbers but AI Investment Concerns Dominate

Alphabet delivered quarterly figures that exceeded analyst projections, propelled by robust Google Cloud performance and resilient advertising income. The headline numbers appeared encouraging.

However, market participants rapidly pivoted to examining expenditure trends. Company leadership acknowledged that capital expenditures will continue climbing as substantial resources flow toward artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.

The central question weighing on investor sentiment is straightforward: at what point will these substantial investments generate measurable returns? This ambiguity dampened enthusiasm despite otherwise impressive financial performance.

Alphabet’s quarterly disclosure established a framework for the current reporting period. Market participants are evaluating corporations not merely on revenue and profit achievement, but critically on the magnitude of investment required to achieve those results.

Crude Oil Breaks Through $100 Barrier as Market Tension Builds

Brent crude petroleum surged beyond the $100-per-barrel level for the first time in several months. The advance reflected heightened geopolitical instability across the Middle East, with particular market focus on potential supply chain vulnerabilities in the Strait of Hormuz.

Higher oil prices translate immediately into increased costs for logistics and production sectors. This dynamic simultaneously pressures corporate profit margins and household budgets.

From an investment perspective, the more significant concern centers on implications for price stability. Should petroleum prices remain elevated, the Federal Reserve may delay anticipated interest rate reductions, which would compound headwinds facing stock valuations.

Broad equity market indices retreated across major benchmarks. Technology sector constituents paced the downturn, as investors reduced exposure to premium-valued growth-oriented positions following ambiguous signals from Tesla and Alphabet earnings.

The dual challenges of artificial intelligence spending uncertainty and rising energy costs provided multiple rationales for risk reduction. Neither dynamic appears likely to find near-term resolution.

Intel Earnings Take Center Stage

With Tesla and Alphabet results now digested, market focus shifts to Intel. The semiconductor manufacturer is scheduled to announce quarterly results following the closing bell.

Intel faces expectations to demonstrate tangible advancement in artificial intelligence positioning, foundry operations, and its comprehensive restructuring initiative. The competitive landscape in semiconductors remains extraordinarily challenging.

Market participants will scrutinize data center processor volumes, manufacturing capability updates, and forward guidance regarding AI-driven growth trajectories. The company’s performance could influence sentiment across the broader semiconductor industry, with implications for companies including Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom.

Intel’s quarterly disclosure represents the next critical checkpoint for assessing whether enterprise artificial intelligence investments are translating into tangible financial outcomes.

The post Market Recap: Tesla (TSLA) Tumbles, Alphabet (GOOGL) AI Spend Worries, Oil Surges Past $100 appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• AREB shares climb 12.12% as CEO Andy Ross takes the stage tonight.
• Parx Racing hosts final Star-Spangled Happy Hour with live country rock set.
• American Rebel Light Beer now covers 437 accounts across Pennsylvania.
• Company brand reaches nearly 70% statewide coverage across 47 counties.
• Distribution-First strategy fuels growth ahead of Country Night finale.

AREB stock climbed to $0.1850, up 12.12% intraday amid heavy trading volume. The gain arrived as American Rebel Holdings CEO Andy Ross prepared to headline Country Night at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. The event capped a four-week Star-Spangled Happy Hour series and highlighted the company’s growing statewide beer distribution network.

American Rebel Holdings, Inc., AREB

Andy Ross Headlines Parx Racing Country Night Finale

Ross, Chief Executive Officer of American Rebel Holdings, performed live at Parx Racing on Thursday, July 23. The show ran from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time and closed out the venue’s summer concert series. Fans gathered at the racetrack, located just 15 miles from Philadelphia, to enjoy country rock music and drink specials.

American Rebel Light Beer served as the featured partner for the evening and poured specials throughout the venue. Radio personalities Jeff Kurkjian and Donnie Black from 92.5 XTU also appeared and engaged fans on-site. Their presence added extra visibility to the brand and drew a broader audience of country music listeners.

Ross said Pennsylvania remains one of the company’s strongest growth markets and thanked local retail partners. He added that the Parx Racing event let the brand connect directly with consumers in a festive setting. The finale wrapped a month-long promotional push that ran every Thursday throughout July.

American Rebel Holdings Expands Beer Distribution Across Pennsylvania

American Rebel Holdings now supplies its beer to more than 437 retail and on-premise accounts statewide. Those accounts span 47 counties and represent close to 70% of total coverage across Pennsylvania. The company built this network through steady retail outreach and consistent regional marketing efforts.

Executives at American Rebel Holdings describe the approach as a Distribution-First strategy focused on scalable expansion. The model prioritizes retailer support, distributor relationships, and direct engagement with everyday consumers. Live events like the Parx Racing finale reinforce these retail partnerships and introduce the brand to new drinkers.

Pennsylvania has become a proving ground for this strategy, and results continue to show steady account growth. American Rebel Holdings plans to keep pairing live entertainment with retail promotion in future markets. The company views such activations as low-cost, high-impact tools for building brand recognition quickly.

Stock Performance Reflects Momentum for American Rebel Holdings

Shares of American Rebel Holdings traded actively on Thursday, moving from a morning low near $0.16 to $0.1850. The 12.12% jump came alongside elevated trading volume throughout the session. Market activity coincided with coverage of the Parx Racing performance and beer promotion.

The rally also followed weeks of expanding retail placements across Pennsylvania and neighboring states. American Rebel Holdings has leaned on grassroots marketing to build awareness ahead of wider distribution goals. Retail partners have noted the brand’s growing visibility in regional markets.

The company plans additional activations in the coming months to sustain this momentum. Ross and his team continue positioning the brand as a leading regional beer option. The Parx Racing finale marked another step in that ongoing brand-building effort.

The post American Rebel Holdings, Inc. (AREB) Stock: Jumps as CEO Headlines Parx Racing Country Night Finale appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Nebius Activates Nvidia Vera Rubin Rack at Its Finland AI Data Center Site
• Nvidia-Backed Nebius Starts Vera Rubin Rack Validation at Its Finland Site
• Nebius Launches Its First Full Vera Rubin NVL72 Rack at a Finland Facility
• NVDA Trades Near $210 as Nebius Expands Its Finland AI Infrastructure Base
• Nebius Adds Vera Rubin Computing Power to Its Expanding Finland AI Network

NVIDIA (NVDA) traded near $209.74 on Thursday, down 1.09% during intraday trading. The stock recovered after falling below $207 and returned toward the $210 level. Nebius launched its first Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack at its Finland data center.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

Nebius Brings Vera Rubin NVL72 Rack Online in Finland

Nebius confirmed that it brought its first complete Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack online in Finland. The company also started validating the platform before commercial deployment.The rollout marked an early operational milestone for its next AI infrastructure phase.

The deployment followed Nvidia’s disclosure of a 9.3% passive ownership stake in Nebius. That filing highlighted the companies’ expanding relationship in artificial intelligence infrastructure.  Nebius recently received Nvidia Spectrum-6 networking switches for the platform.

Nebius integrated the networking hardware with the Vera Rubin NVL72 rack before starting validation work. The company now continues software optimization alongside production-grade testing. After completing those steps, Nebius plans to make the platform available for customer workloads.

Nvidia Expands Vera Rubin Deployment Across Cloud Providers

Nvidia moved the Vera Rubin NVL72 platform into full production during June. The company also started deployments with several major cloud infrastructure providers. Those providers include Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and CoreWeave.

The Vera Rubin NVL72 platform delivers higher memory bandwidth than the previous Blackwell generation. It also reduces artificial intelligence inference costs through updated architecture and hardware improvements.  Nvidia continues expanding its latest AI computing platform across commercial cloud environments.

Nebius supported the deployment through engineering work completed with Nvidia during platform development. Both companies coordinated testing activities before production readiness. That process accelerated hardware validation and prepared the system for commercial software optimization.

Nebius Expands AI Infrastructure With New Financing

Earlier this month, Nebius secured a $775 million GPU-backed senior secured debt facility. The financing supports additional AI infrastructure expansion without issuing new equity.The company strengthened its funding position while preserving shareholder ownership levels.

Nebius previously disclosed more than $40 billion in contracted revenue with investment-grade customers. Those agreements include Microsoft and Meta Platforms among its enterprise clients.The contracts provide long-term demand for the company’s AI cloud infrastructure services.

The latest Finland deployment adds operational progress to Nebius’ broader expansion strategy.  Nvidia continues supplying advanced AI hardware across global cloud providers and enterprise customers. Together, those developments reflect ongoing execution within large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure projects.

The post NVIDIA (NVDA) Stock: Backed Nebius Launches Vera Rubin Rack at Finland Site appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Shares reached a fresh 52-week peak of $387.32, settling at $386.87 with a 3.8% single-day gain
• Most recent quarter showed earnings per share of $4.10 versus analyst expectations of $3.67; sales reached $13.48B
• Investment firm Jefferies increased its target price to $440 while upgrading the stock to Buy based on marine division performance
• Wall Street consensus stands at “Moderate Buy” with average target of $391.15
• The company’s Land Systems division received a $209M Abrams Engineering program contract adjustment

Shares of General Dynamics (GD) reached a new 52-week peak during Thursday’s trading session, climbing to $387.32 before settling at $386.87 — representing a robust 3.8% increase. The previous session’s close stood at $373.16.

General Dynamics Corporation, GD

The upward momentum reflects growing enthusiasm for defense sector stocks, with GD benefiting from a confluence of impressive quarterly results, fresh defense contracts, and positive sentiment from Wall Street analysts.

During its most recent quarterly report, the aerospace and defense giant delivered earnings per share of $4.10, surpassing Wall Street’s $3.67 projection by $0.43. Sales totaled $13.48 billion, exceeding the anticipated $12.70 billion — marking a year-over-year improvement of 10.3%.

For the current fiscal year, analysts are projecting earnings per share of $16.66. The company currently trades at a price-to-earnings multiple of 24.29 and carries a market capitalization of $104.73 billion.

Jefferies recently elevated its price target from $400 to $440 while maintaining a Buy recommendation. Analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu forecasts second-quarter earnings of $3.98, modestly above the Street consensus of $3.95. The firm had earlier upgraded GD from Hold to Buy, highlighting robust performance in marine operations and an advantageous product mix in aerospace.

Morgan Stanley increased its target to $435 with an Overweight stance. Bank of America maintains a $415 target alongside a Buy rating. Goldman Sachs stands apart with a Sell recommendation and $313 price target.

Wall Street Outlook and Price Objectives

Analyst consensus indicates a “Moderate Buy” rating with a mean price objective of $391.15. The breakdown shows two Strong Buy ratings, 13 Buy recommendations, five Hold positions, and one Sell rating.

Technical indicators show the 50-day moving average at $354.33 and the 200-day average at $351.26 — both significantly beneath current trading levels.

Wall Street Zen elevated GD to Strong Buy status in June. Deutsche Bank maintains a Hold position with a $377 price objective.

Defense Contracts and Shareholder Returns

Regarding contract awards, General Dynamics Land Systems secured a $209 million modification extending its Abrams Engineering program agreement with the U.S. Department of War, pushing the total contract value to approximately $850 million.

Separately, Allison Transmission revealed a supply agreement with General Dynamics European Land Systems for EAGLE Series vehicles destined for the German Armed Forces.

The company announced a quarterly dividend distribution of $1.59 per share, scheduled for payment on August 7th. This translates to an annualized payout of $6.36 and yields roughly 1.6%. GD has consecutively increased its dividend for 12 years running.

The current dividend payout ratio registers at 40.03%, while return on equity measured 17.41% in the latest quarter.

Institutional ownership comprises 86.14% of outstanding shares. Meanwhile, company insiders have been reducing positions — EVP Mark Lagrand Burns divested 36,480 shares in May at an average price of $345.29, while Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares in June at $365.00. Insider ownership currently stands at 1.40%.

In leadership developments, General Counsel Greg Gallopoulos plans to retire by year-end 2026, with Nick Barnaby designated to assume the position in 2027. The succession plan has been characterized as well-organized with minimal investor concern.

Options trading volume has shown increased activity, with 3,761 contracts changing hands recently, predominantly favoring call positions.

The post General Dynamics (GD) Stock Surges to 52-Week Peak in July 2026 appeared first on Blockonomi.

Bitcoin is stuck near $65,000, and trader Wise Crypto thinks AI spending is a big part of why.

The OG crypto poked above $66,000 earlier this week before losing steam, and the pattern points to money chasing AI stocks instead of crypto while inflation and bond yields keep pressure on risk assets.

Where the Money Is Actually Going

Wise Crypto laid out the case on X Thursday, noting that while spot Bitcoin ETFs have had seven consecutive days of inflows that have raked in just under $1 billion, the number was a small one next to the $6.9 billion that left those same funds in May and June.

Meanwhile, Big Tech is spending somewhere between $190 billion and $205 billion on AI infrastructure this year, with Nvidia’s data center revenue up 92% year over year, and AI-linked stocks have climbed roughly 69% since January. Bitcoin, over that same stretch, is down about 25%.

“Capital is flowing to AI, not crypto,” Wise Crypto wrote, pointing to two-year Treasury yields near 4.3% and ten-year yields near 4.6% as the forces keeping the dollar strong and investors cautious on risk assets.

The price data backs up the stall, as BTC was trading around $65,400 at the time of writing, down 0.6% on the day, after swinging between about $65,300 and $66,300 in the last 24 hours and between $62,500 and $66,900 over the past week. It is still up close to 5% across 30 days but sits roughly 45% below its all-time-high near $126,000 from last October.

“BTC needs lower inflation, falling yields & stronger demand to break $60K-$70K range,” claimed Wise Crypto.

Another market watcher, Ted Pillows, writing in his Thursday market report, pointed to Brent crude being near $94 a barrel after another round of US-Iran strikes, along with a ten-year TIPS real yield of about 2.31%, a post-pandemic high, as the direct drag on non-yielding assets like Bitcoin right now.

“I’d rather watch $64,000 get defended than chase a run back toward $66,500,” he said.

The Technical Levels Traders Are Watching

Michaël van de Poppe has said Bitcoin has already reached its target area, and that holding above the 21-day moving average keeps the door open for near-term gains, with $68,000 marking the next resistance zone and a break above it potentially opening a run to $73,000.

Fellow analyst Axel Adler noted that ETFs have taken in $439 million so far this week, while the so-called Coinbase discount, running for 78 days now, has started to narrow.

Further out, EGRAG CRYPTO flagged a developing double bottom pattern that would need a weekly close above $83,000 to gain traction, with $173,000 the eventual target if the setup plays out, though a weekly close below roughly $51,000 would invalidate it.

A similar reaction zone between $67,900 and $68,300 was pointed to by Bitfinex analysts, who also noted that short-term holders who bought in that range tend to sell once they recover their original positions, a pattern that has capped rallies before and could do so again if $68,000 comes back into play.

The post Analyst: Bitcoin Stuck Near $65K Because Capital Is Flowing to AI appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ethereum has climbed by 16% over the past month and is now showing a technical setup that has historically been followed by strong price recoveries, according to crypto analyst Ali Martinez.

He found that ETH’s MVRV ratio is nearing a bullish crossover above its 160-day simple moving average (SMA).

Recovery Hints

The MVRV Momentum measures the relationship between aggregate holder profitability and its medium-term trend line. Martinez explained that when the daily MVRV ratio moves back above the 160-day SMA, it indicates a shift out of capitulation and the beginning of a fresh accumulation phase. Interestingly, this is the first time the setup has emerged in 2026.

Over the past three years, crossovers above this level have consistently marked the end of distribution periods and preceded major rebounds in ETH’s price.

At the same time, large investors continue adding to their holdings. According to Lookonchain, an anonymous whale purchased 27,000 ETH worth $52.03 million through Galaxy Digital’s over-the-counter (OTC) desk after remaining inactive for three months.

Additionally, BSCN reported that BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes acquired another 644.34 ETH worth roughly $1.25 million, increasing his total purchases over the past eight days to 3,270 ETH. This follows his earlier $2.53 million ETH buy and comes alongside several other multi-million-dollar Ethereum purchases and staking activity reported earlier this week.

Prediction markets are also leaning bullish. In fact, Whale Insiders said Kalshi traders are forecasting ETH could climb as high as $3,210 this year.

Separate data also showed that investors withdrew around 1 million ETH, worth nearly $2 billion, from centralized exchanges over the past 30 days, which pushed exchange balances to their lowest level in a decade. Declining exchange reserves typically reduce selling pressure and support a bullish outlook.

On the institutional front, spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded consistent net inflows this month, raking in over $380 million during this period.

Alternative Outlook

Not all analysts share the same near-term outlook. Crypto analyst Nonzee, for one, argued that the crypto asset could still see one more rally before a deeper correction. He expects it to test $2,000, with a possible move to $2,200 if Bitcoin climbs to $70,000. However, he believes those levels would mark a bull trap rather than the start of a meaningful breakout.

According to the roadmap, Ethereum could spend seven to ten days in a distribution phase before falling into a final bottom zone between $1,300 and $900, which he considers the ideal accumulation range. Despite his bearish short-term outlook, Nonzee maintained a long-term price target of $7,000 for ETH.

The post Ethereum’s Next Leg Higher? Historic Indicator and Whale Activity Align appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cardano’s native token is among the best-performing cryptocurrencies (from the top 100 club) over the past week, with its price rising by 8% to around $0.17.

Two key developments suggest the uptrend might be just at its starting point, while another factor hints that an upcoming correction is just as likely.

Bulls vs. Bears

Earlier this month, the large ADA investors, known across the crypto space as whales, increased their total holdings to 25.6 billion coins. This represents almost 70% of the token’s circulating supply and is the highest level since February 2023. At the same time, retail investors have reduced their exposure to ADA, with Santiment explaining that this combination could create a healthy setup for the asset.

Just recently, the renowned analyst Ali Martinez revealed that whales have purchased 30 million units (worth over $5 million at current rates) over the last month. The obvious revival of this cohort of investors signals that they are positioning for the next potential price upswing.

There is a common theory in the crypto world that whales have access to inside information about events or news that could impact the valuation of a certain asset and that they rarely jump on the bandwagon out of pure intuition. That said, their efforts may encourage smaller players to join the ecosystem and distribute fresh capital.

The second bullish element is ADA’s Relative Strength Index (RSI). The technical analysis tool measures the latest speed and magnitude of price changes to evaluate whether the token is poised for a trend reversal. Readings below 30 put ADA in oversold territory and due for a possible rally, while anything above 70 serves as a warning for an impending correction. Currently, the RSI stands at around 28.

However, there is also a bearish factor to be considered. Lately, exchange inflows have surpassed outflows, meaning that investors have abandoned self-custody and flocked toward centralized platforms: a development that increases immediate selling pressure.

Recent Predictions

Several analysts on X have noted ADA’s rebound, expecting a much more substantial push north in the short term. Master of Crypto claimed that if the positive trend continues, the price could surge to $0.219.

Others like JAVON MARKS are even more bullish, envisioning hard-to-believe explosions (at least from the current perspective). The analyst opined that ADA moves towards “a key convering/breaking point” which could open the door to an increase to as high as $2.90. Celal Kucuker also chipped in lately, predicting a major ascent to $5.

The post 2 Bullish and 1 Bearish ADA Signals: Where Is Cardano’s Price Going Next? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin’s latest rally has carried the asset back into an area where sellers have previously regained control. The coming sessions should reveal whether this recovery has enough strength to continue or if another rejection is waiting around the corner.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, BTC has extended its recovery into the $65.5K-$66.7K supply zone after successfully reclaiming the descending trendline that had capped the price action for weeks. While this breakout represents a notable improvement in market structure, the broader trend remains constrained beneath the declining 100-day moving average, with the 200-day moving average positioned even higher.

The current resistance zone also coincides with a previous distribution area, increasing the likelihood of seller activity around current levels. A decisive daily close above $66.7K would strengthen the bullish case and expose the next resistance around $72K-$74K.

On the downside, the former breakout area near $63K-$64K now serves as the first demand zone. As long as BTC holds above this region, buyers remain in short-term control. Losing this support would shift attention back toward the broader demand zone around $58K-$59.5K, where the latest impulsive rally originated.

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart highlights a clear shift in momentum after Bitcoin broke above the descending trendline and rallied directly into the overhead supply zone around $65.5K-$66.7K. The market is now consolidating beneath resistance after rejecting the upper boundary of the range.

This pause appears consistent with profit-taking rather than a confirmed trend reversal, especially since the previous resistance trendline has already been reclaimed. If buyers manage to absorb the current supply, a breakout above $66.7K could trigger another impulsive leg higher.

However, failure to sustain current levels would likely result in a pullback toward the $63K-$64K demand zone, which aligns with the recently broken trendline and could serve as the next area for buyers to defend before another attempt higher.

Sentiment Analysis

The one-year Binance liquidation heatmap shows a notable concentration of short-side liquidity around the $88K region, standing out as one of the largest untouched liquidity pools above the current market price.

From a market structure perspective, this aligns with the broader idea that Bitcoin may eventually be drawn toward that liquidity. However, until price sweeps the $90K cluster and successfully establishes acceptance above it, it is difficult to argue that the higher-timeframe trend has fully transitioned into a bullish market.

As a result, the current recovery should still be viewed with caution. Although the technical structure has improved over the short term, every bullish leg can still be interpreted as corrective within the broader bearish context until the major overhead liquidity is cleared and price stabilizes above that region.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: BTC Rally Loses Steam as Historical Resistance Comes Into Play appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ripple’s XRP remains trapped beneath a major technical barrier despite recovering from its late June lows. The recent rebound has improved short-term sentiment, but the price is now approaching an area where buyers must absorb significant overhead supply before a broader trend reversal can be considered.

Ripple Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

The daily chart shows XRP continuing to trade within a well-defined long-term descending channel. Although the recent rebound has lifted the asset away from the $1.02 to $1.05 demand zone, the broader structure still favors sellers while the asset remains below the channel’s upper boundary and the major moving averages.

The immediate hurdle sits inside the $1.24 to $1.29 resistance zone, where the upper channel boundary converges with the 100-day moving average. This confluence makes the area particularly important, as a rejection here would reinforce the prevailing downtrend.

A successful breakout above this region would expose the 200-day moving average next, but buyers first need to reclaim the current resistance cluster before a more constructive outlook can develop.

On the downside, the $1.02 to $1.05 demand zone remains the primary support. Losing this area would likely shift momentum back toward the broader bearish trend.

XRP/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart paints a more constructive short-term picture. XRP has managed to reclaim the descending trendline that capped the price action throughout July and is now consolidating directly beneath the $1.16 to $1.18 supply zone.

This resistance has repeatedly rejected bullish attempts in recent weeks, making it the key level to monitor. A decisive breakout above $1.18 could trigger a move toward the daily resistance around $1.24 to $1.29, while another rejection would likely send the price back to retest the broken trendline as initial support.

As long as the asset continues to hold above the reclaimed trendline, buyers retain a modest short-term advantage. However, the broader trend will remain neutral to bearish until the price establishes acceptance above the overhead resistance cluster.

The post Ripple Price Analysis: XRP’s Recovery Is a Trap Until This Happens appeared first on CryptoPotato.