The shift to streaming in sports broadcasting reshapes advertising strategies, emphasizing digital tools and targeting growing demographics.

The post 23.2 million viewers watch England vs Mexico World Cup match as streaming dominates sports broadcasting appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

McKernan's departure may delay fintech and crypto regulation, impacting policy development amid ongoing legislative debates on digital assets.

The post Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance McKernan departs after less than a year appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The ongoing regional tensions highlight the vulnerability of markets to geopolitical events, with potential for significant crypto volatility.

The post Kuwait intercepts missile and drone attacks as Bitcoin dips to $99.5K before rebounding appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Escalating tensions could lead to increased regulatory scrutiny on crypto markets, impacting global trade and financial stability.

The post IRGC-linked channel claims large-scale missile strikes on US Gulf bases as crypto markets brace for impact appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

South Korea's growth upgrade highlights its pivotal role in AI hardware, but reliance on few buyers poses risks amid potential market shifts.

The post South Korea gets the IMF’s biggest growth upgrade among major economies appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Slips to $62,000, Paring Rebound as CryptoQuant Sees Room Higher

Bitcoin traded near $62,000 today, surrendering part of a rebound that had carried it to $64,000 from last week’s bear-market low of $57,700. The pullback holds the price above the $60,000 level that CryptoQuant treats as support, though it trims a recovery of some 11% off the bottom.

The dip came as CryptoQuant’s Weekly Crypto Report, published today and shared with Bitcoin Magazine, argued the backdrop skews toward further gains. Head of Research Julio Moreno framed the bounce as a bear-market recovery rather than a trend reversal, with one central caution: the firm’s Bull Score Index, an aggregate of on-chain, market, and valuation conditions on a 0-to-100 scale, sits at 20, inside the bearish zone at or below 40 and short of the 60 reading tied to a sustainable bull market.

The report’s bullish case rests on seasonality. Across the past decade, July has ranked among Bitcoin’s stronger months, closing higher in most years shown. 

The pattern held in the down-cycles of 2018 and 2022, when Bitcoin gained some 20% and 17% during the month as the broader trend stayed weak. Entering July 2026 off a bear-market low, the report said, that pattern skews near-term risk toward gains.

Bitcoin demand is turning

Demand has turned. The 30-day change in total demand — spot plus perpetual futures — collapsed to some -650,000 BTC in early June, the deepest negative reading since 2022, as Bitcoin fell toward $58,000. 

It has since recovered toward neutral, with speculative futures demand crossing into positive territory and spot selling easing to its slowest pace since mid-May. A return to positive territory, the report said, would confirm a re-igniting demand engine.

U.S. buyers show signs of stabilizing. The Coinbase Premium Index, a proxy for U.S. spot demand, sank below zero in early June as Bitcoin bottomed near $57,000, one of its weakest readings of the year.

The premium remains under zero, though its path has tracked Bitcoin’s climb off the low and points to steadier institutional appetite.

Valuation added a floor. The on-chain trader unrealized profit/loss margin, for coins held one to three months, dropped below -24% in early June, under the -12% threshold the firm treats as undervalued. Readings at such extremes tend to mark local bottoms as short-term holders capitulate, the report said, and the margin has recovered as price bounced off $57,700.

Today’s slip to $62,000 underscores the report’s own hedge. CryptoQuant reads the market as off its lows, with improving internals but a bearish regime intact. 

A durable rally, it concluded, would require the Bull Score Index to climb above 60. Until then, the firm treats the move as a recovery within a bear market, not a reversal — a framing this week’s give-back does little to challenge.

This post Bitcoin Slips to $62,000, Paring Rebound as CryptoQuant Sees Room Higher first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said the Clarity Act remains within reach, days after Congress missed its July 4 target to pass the crypto market-structure bill. “We’re so close. We have to get this done,” Selig told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. 

Some analysts give the measure even odds of passage before the August 7 recess.

The bill would divide oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a split the industry has sought for years. The House passed the legislation last summer. The Senate has yet to hold a floor vote.

Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, backed the Clarity Act effort as a matter of national competitiveness. He backed the effort as a matter of national competitiveness. 

“It’s critical that we have a federal standard for crypto assets,” he said, pointing to a patchwork of state laws that, in his account, has hurt U.S. business. He described the goal as certainty, clarity, and consumer protection, and called the measure bipartisan. “We have to get it across the line,” he said.

Asked about the holdup, Selig pointed to scope. Democrats have pressed for ethics language addressing President Trump, his family, and their crypto ventures, a demand he characterized as a distraction. 

“There’s a little bit of creep into ethics and other issues, and they’re just derailing the real opportunity to have a bipartisan bill,” he said. 

Democrats have framed the Clarity Act provisions as consumer protection. The bill has also drawn disputes over illicit-finance rules and over a reopened piece of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law, that concerns whether exchanges may pay yield on stablecoin balances.

Senator Cynthia Lummis, who leads the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, has said negotiators aim to release bill text and hold a vote this month.

The committee advanced the measure in a 15-9 vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans. Lawmakers have warned that a failure to act before the recess could delay the next opening for years.

Selig on prediction markets, Iran beyond Clarity Act

Bartiromo also asked Selig about prediction markets, where Kalshi and Polymarket processed a combined $24 billion in volume over the past year.

Selig said the CFTC has proposed rules for the sector and has sued nine states in a fight over jurisdiction. On markets during the U.S. strikes on Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, he said crypto held its ground and served as a hedge, while the agency worked to keep oil and derivatives markets orderly.

For now, the Clarity Act’s fate rests on released text, a Senate vote, and a calendar that leaves a few weeks before the August recess.

This post CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bull Bitcoin Files Landmark Legal Challenge to Annul France’s DAC8 Crypto Data Surveillance Rules

Bull Bitcoin exchange, recently licensed under MiCA, is challenging the European directive in French courts that sets up a mass surveillance database, putting millions of crypto users at risk. 

Bull Bitcoin, the world’s oldest Bitcoin-only and non-custodial exchange, recently licensed under MiCA by France’s financial markets regulator AMF, has filed a legal challenge before the Conseil d’État, France’s supreme administrative court. The challenge seeks to annul Decree No. 2025-1276, the main measure transposing the European DAC8 directive into French law, on the grounds that it creates a massive surveillance grid and database that institutions can not secure from leaks and data hacks, ultimately putting civilians at risk of kidnapping and physical harm. 

Alongside the legal action, the company is making dac8.com public: “a complete, fully sourced resource for citizens, journalists and policymakers,” according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. 

In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in kidnappings and physical attacks on crypto users, most concentrated in Europe, with France being an epicenter. Organized crime seems to be exploiting poor data reporting laws of law-abiding crypto users who, by paying their taxes, expose their ownership of crypto assets. Given that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not reversible and can be transferred internationally with ease, criminals are hunting down crypto users. France has had the second most physical attacks on crypto users after the USA, which has a much larger population, according to Gart, a company dedicated to protecting users from this rising threat.

High-profile figures in the Bitcoin and broader crypto industry have been targeted in recent years, such as Binance France CEO David Prinçay and Ledger co-founder David Balland, who lost a finger during the incident, among many others. Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Casa, a high-security Bitcoin and Ethereum wallet company, has organized ‘wrench attack’ data for years in a database on GitHub showing an accelerating trend of attacks. 

Bull Bitcoin argues in its legal challenge to the DAC8 that further consolidation and sharing of crypto user data will only perpetuate this trend of physical attacks. However, they also argue that these personal security risks created by the DAC8 are also working against the stated intentions of the regulations. They argue that users will simply find legal alternatives to centralized, regulated exchanges, opting to purchase the assets off the grid via peer-to-peer exchanges, home mining or offshore unregulated alternatives, making tax collection even more difficult.

User Data Honey Pots

DAC8 turns the natural incentive a company has to protect its users’ data into a valuable multinational database with many entry points, which cybersecurity experts have for a long time called a honey pot. Bull Bitcoin points out that regulated crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) under MiCA, DORA and the GDPR are supervised, sanctionable professionals with financial incentives to protect their customers. DAC8, in turn, does the opposite: it moves data into administrative reporting networks where access is broader, and accountability is harder for users to assess. The security of the whole — Bull Bitcoin concludes — is then only as strong as its weakest link. 

The history of data security over the past decades shows that amassing user data and keeping it safe over time is very difficult. Just this year, the French National Agency for Secure Credentials (ANTS, also known as France Titres) suffered a major breach detected on April 15, 2026, exposing data from up to 11.7–19 million accounts. Compromised information included login IDs, full names, email addresses, dates of birth, account identifiers, and, in some cases, postal addresses, places of birth, and phone numbers. 

Months earlier, the French National Bank account registry also suffered a major hack, exposing data tied to approximately 1.2 million accounts. The compromised information included IBANs, account holder names, addresses, and, in some cases, tax identification numbers, though officials stated the attacker could not view balances or conduct transactions.

In the United States, the situation is not much better. The Equifax Data Breach in 2017 affected 147 million Americans, and the National Public Data Breach of 2024 affected over 200 million Americans, leading to leaks of social security numbers among other critical information. And back in 2015, the Office of Personal Management of the U.S. government was also breached, compromising a large number of U.S. Government officials. The data stolen included everything from social security numbers to medical records. 

The list of such breaches is long, and the only logical conclusion to draw from it is that the less user information that ends up in these honeypots, the better, as ultimately all of these hacks put civilians at risk either from physical attacks or from identity-theft related fraud. 

Families On the Front Lines

Of the many issues identified by Bull Bitcoin and documented on the DAC8 website, the most alarming one might be how even individuals who have not purchased crypto might end up harmed by this concentration of data, just by familial association with a Bitcoiner or crypto user.

Citing data by Certik, Bull Bitcoin highlights that more than half of the violent incidents recorded in 2026 against crypto owners targeted a family member — spouse, child, elderly parent — as a direct victim or as a pressure lever over the key holder. On the topic, Bull Bitcoin assets that  “DAC8 therefore exposes not only crypto-asset holders, but their entire close family circle: between 40 and 135 million Europeans fall into a physical-risk zone, without any of them ever having consented.”

Francis Pouliot, CEO of Bull Bitcoin considers this overreach into the privacy of Euroeans to be potentially catastrophic for the prosperity of the continent, he minced no words in the press release saying that “DAC8 has transformed the concept of Know Your Customer into Kill Your Customer.” He added, “We cannot let the very foundations of civilization be shattered by this attack on privacy rights. We must draw a line in the sand and refuse to cede any more territory before we have nothing left. Someone must take a stand. It appears that no one else is willing and able to do so. Therefore, it falls to BULL to lead this fight.”

The DAC8.com is rich with facts, figures, official sources (EUR-Lex, OECD, Legifrance) and analysis, in French, English and other European languages for those interested in reviewing it and freely using it.

This post Bull Bitcoin Files Landmark Legal Challenge to Annul France’s DAC8 Crypto Data Surveillance Rules first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Bitcoin Magazine

Schwab Strategist Backs Strategy’s STRC Playbook Amid Bitcoin Weakness

Strategy remains under pressure as Bitcoin hovers near $60,000, but recent capital moves have bought the company time, according to Jim Ferraioli, director of crypto research and strategy at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

Speaking on Morning Trade Live at the New York Stock Exchange, Ferraioli said the firm led by Michael Saylor faces scrutiny while the price of Bitcoin sits 50% below its peak. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, has funded much of its buying through preferred equity, including its variable-rate Stretch preferred stock, known as STRC.

That product fell near $70 from its $100 par value before a rebound. To defend the peg, Strategy raised the STRC dividend to 12% and authorized $2 billion in buybacks while unlocking further Bitcoin sales. The stock has since started climbing back toward par. 

“The market is supportive of these actions,” Ferraioli said, describing the response as a check on fears of cascading liquidations.

The shift marks a change in tone for a company known for a “never sell” stance. 

“We went from never sell Bitcoin to strategically sell Bitcoin,” Ferraioli said, acknowledging fair criticism. He cautioned that a lower multiple could limit Strategy’s capacity to issue shares and buy more Bitcoin in the second half of the year. 

Schwab’s perspective on Bitcoin’s slump

Ferraioli weighed in on a market bump that followed comments from President Trump, who signaled openness to holding Bitcoin in the new Trump Accounts savings program. 

Ferraioli read the move as a sign of one more potential class of buyer, alongside mainstream investors who entered through spot ETFs. 

“The crypto market loves narratives,” he said, calling the asset momentum-driven.

On correlations, Ferraioli described Bitcoin as a low-correlation asset, a trait he traced to the four-year halving that cuts new supply. Past ties to tech stocks have broken down, and a historic inverse relationship with the dollar has wavered; Bitcoin has rallied during periods of dollar strength this year. 

“Starting points matter,” he said, noting that Bitcoin rose during the Iran conflict as the dollar gained.

He addressed the dollar-yen rate, which trades near 40-year lows. A stronger yen could unwind the carry trade, in which investors sell the yen to buy growth assets. Ferraioli framed a yen rebound as a possible headwind for risk assets, though not a primary near-term risk for Bitcoin.

On the debasement trade, Ferraioli pushed back on the idea that last year’s gold rally, set against a halving of Bitcoin’s market cap, disproved the store-of-value case. 

He attributed the gold move to supply constraints and momentum rather than fiscal fear. The federal budget deficit has narrowed from 8-9% of GDP to 5%, near the median across Bitcoin’s life.

“It’s not an endorsement of the fiscal health,” he said, “but it helps put that narrative in check.”

This post Schwab Strategist Backs Strategy’s STRC Playbook Amid Bitcoin Weakness first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Cantor SPAC and Adam Back’s Bitcoin Treasury Renegotiate Merger Terms, Vow New Structure

Cantor Equity Partners I (Nasdaq: CEPO), a special purpose acquisition company backed by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald, and BSTR Holdings said today that they will not complete their proposed bitcoin business combination on the terms set in their July 2025 agreement. The parties plan to negotiate a revised structure and amended terms that reflect market conditions.

The companies said the private placements tied to the original deal will not need to close. A shareholder meeting for CEPO, set for July 10, moved to a postponed date with no fixed timeline. Public shares submitted for redemption will return to holders, the note said. 

The announcement marks a reversal for one of the largest bitcoin treasury deals to reach public markets. When the two firms unveiled the merger in July 2025, they framed a plan to take Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, led by Blockstream co-founder and cryptographer Adam Back, public on Nasdaq under the ticker BSTR. 

The combined entity would launch with 30,021 bitcoin, a stake worth more than $3 billion at the time, and rank among the largest public corporate bitcoin holders.

Adam Back took to X this morning to confirm: “From today’s filing, @bstrco and $CEPO have agreed to work together on and are currently discussing a potential revised structure and amended terms for their previously announced proposed business combination, intended to opportunistically better capitalize on market conditions.” 

Merger targets 50,000-bitcoin treasury

The structure paired Back and Blockstream Capital, who agreed to contribute more than 30,000 bitcoin, with a private investment in public equity of about $1.5 billion. About 5,021 bitcoin came as in-kind contributions rather than cash. 

Backers described the raise as the largest PIPE for a bitcoin treasury, and the company outlined a target of more than 50,000 bitcoin.

The deal drew attention for its ties to Cantor Fitzgerald. Brandon Lutnick, son of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, chairs the SPAC sponsor. The Securities and Exchange Commission declared the registration statement effective on June 5, 2026, and CEPO mailed its proxy to shareholders that day.

The path to a vote proved rough. CEPO pushed the shareholder meeting from June 26 to July 2, then to July 10, before the two sides paused the process. The delays tracked a broader slump in the bitcoin treasury model. 

By late 2025, a rising share of treasury firms traded below the value of their bitcoin holdings, a condition analysts measure through mNAV, the ratio of a company’s market value to its crypto.

That gap matters for the treasury playbook. The model depends on a premium: when a stock trades above the worth of its bitcoin, the firm can issue shares to buy more. When the stock slips to a discount, fresh equity raises erode value for existing holders and the growth engine stalls. 

Strategy, the pioneer of the approach, traded at a discount to its holdings, and smaller peers fell to steeper markdowns.

Neither firm detailed the shape of a revised deal. Any new terms would require fresh filings with the SEC to amend the registration statement and proxy. The parties said they expect to share more in due course.

This post Cantor SPAC and Adam Back’s Bitcoin Treasury Renegotiate Merger Terms, Vow New Structure first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Binance-backed BNB Chain is restructuring its underlying architecture and setting a long-term goal of processing 1 million transactions per second while integrating protocol-level privacy.

The strategic pivot aims to capture two distinct yet demanding emerging markets: traditional financial institutions and the nascent sector of autonomous artificial intelligence agents.

This aggressive technical roadmap arrives at a critical juncture for the network, which has faced notable headwinds in the past year.

Data from CryptoSlate shows that the network’s native token, BNB, has tumbled more than 35% this year to $563, its lowest valuation since October 2024.

Furthermore, its network activity has also trailed some rivals, with BNB Chain transactions declining 12.5% in the first quarter of the year while Solana and Ethereum posted gains of 46.4% and 38%, respectively.

To reverse this trend, the network core developers are pushing beyond standard consumer applications, building specialized infrastructure intended to support high-frequency trading and machine-to-machine commerce.

Preparing for the AI economy

A primary catalyst for the network's overhaul is the anticipated rise of AI agents. These are autonomous software capable of executing financial transactions online without human oversight.

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Currently, the market for AI-driven payments remains in its infancy. A recent report from Keyrock estimated that autonomous agents settled approximately $73 million across 176 million blockchain transactions between May 2025 and April 2026.

While this remains relatively small, it has not deterred major technology and finance entities, such as Google, Coinbase, and Visa, from actively deploying competing systems for agentic commerce.

Their operational thesis is that AI agents will increasingly procure digital services in real time, in micro-increments. However, current standard payment rails and existing blockchains are largely ill-equipped to handle software systems that make thousands of micro-purchases per minute.

This potential bottleneck justifies industry forecasts of exponential growth, with McKinsey estimating that retail agentic commerce could reach up to $5 trillion by the end of the decade.

To capture this anticipated volume, BNB Chain recently launched the BNB Agent Studio and a dedicated software development kit.

These middleware tools integrate with large language models and cloud services such as AWS Bedrock, enabling developers to deploy autonomous on-chain agents with ready-made payment infrastructure.

BNB Chain shifts toward native privacy

Demand for on-chain privacy has risen over the past year as public blockchains expose more financial activity to open surveillance.

Wallet balances, transaction histories and trading patterns are visible by default on most major networks. That transparency can help with audits and market monitoring, but it also allows competitors, analytics firms and outside observers to track transfers in real time.

That has become a larger concern as institutions move more assets on-chain. A company settling tokenized assets, a fund shifting collateral, or a market maker moving inventory may not want its counterparties, balances, or trading routes to be visible to the public.

BNB Chain is trying to answer that demand by adding native privacy features. The network is developing confidential transactions and selective disclosure, allowing users to protect sensitive data while still providing information needed for audits, compliance checks, or regulatory reporting.

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Zero-knowledge proofs are expected to play a central role. The technology allows transactions or policy checks to be verified without exposing the underlying data, enabling proof that activity complies with required rules without making every detail public.

Meanwhile, the demand is not limited to institutions. Crypto users have also become more focused on financial privacy as blockchain analytics, centralized exchange reporting and government-backed digital money projects expand the amount of transaction data that can be monitored.

That has pushed the industry beyond older privacy coins, many of which remain under regulatory pressure.

As a result, blockchain networks like Ethereum are now trying to build confidentiality directly into smart-contract infrastructure, so developers can support private transfers, lending, staking, payroll and tokenized asset settlement without moving activity into a separate privacy-only ecosystem.

For BNB Chain, the privacy work is part of the same strategy behind its speed and AI-agent upgrades.

The network is trying to build infrastructure for higher-value activity, where users need faster settlement but also stronger control over what financial data becomes public.

BNB Chain's new L1 design brings speed, privacy and quantum security together

To house these capabilities, BNB Chain’s long-term plan is to place these new features within a new Layer 1 architecture designed for use cases that extend beyond the current design.

The proposed network starts with a target of more than 100,000 transactions per second, supported by co-optimized consensus, parallel execution and LtHash-based storage. Its longer-term design goal is 1 million TPS, a figure that would put the network closer to the capacity developers say is needed for high-frequency trading, autonomous payments and institutional settlement.

The architecture also targets transaction preconfirmations below 50 milliseconds and block finality in less than one second. For trading venues and AI agents, those latency targets are very important because automated systems need faster confirmation times than many general-purpose blockchains can reliably offer.

One of the most important changes is TxStream, a design that removes the public mempool by sending transactions directly to the block leader.

Public mempools allow pending transactions to be viewed before confirmation, creating opportunities for trading bots to front-run or reorder. Direct routing could reduce that exposure, though it would not eliminate every form of transaction-ordering risk.

The new chain is also expected to include PriorityLane, which would reserve block space for critical operations such as oracle updates, bridge transactions and liquidations during periods of market stress.

That feature is designed to keep essential infrastructure running when volatility or congestion would otherwise delay time-sensitive transactions.

BNB Chain also plans an account abstraction suite that would let developers sponsor gas fees, batch transactions, schedule execution and support passkey signing. The goal is to make blockchain applications easier to use, while also giving AI agents and institutions more flexible ways to control permissions and transaction limits.

The network is scheduled to reach testnet by late 2026, with mainnet planned for early 2027.

The final part of the roadmap extends beyond performance. BNB Chain developers are researching post-quantum cryptographic defenses, reflecting a wider industry push to prepare for quantum computers that could eventually weaken today’s public-key encryption systems.

The work focuses on hybrid protections that layer quantum-resistant cryptography onto existing systems rather than forcing users to migrate abruptly. Developers are also studying how account abstraction could allow users to adopt quantum-safe protections without changing addresses or disrupting existing applications.

That research is becoming more urgent across the technology sector. Cloudflare has moved its target for full post-quantum security to 2029, while Microsoft says it aims to enable early adoption of quantum-safe capabilities across its products and services by 2029 before completing its broader transition by 2033.

For BNB Chain, the quantum work adds a longer-term security layer to the same institutional pitch behind the rest of the overhaul.

If the network wants to support private settlement, tokenized assets, AI-agent payments, and high-frequency trading, it will need to demonstrate that its infrastructure can handle both near-term scale and future cryptographic risks.

The post BNB Chain makes 1,000,000 TPS moonshot bet on AI as BNB price slips to 2024 lows appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Bitcoin mining industry in 2026 looks very different from what it did just a few years ago. Post-halving pressure, rising network difficulty, and margin compression have reshaped the competitive landscape — and nowhere is that more visible than in the mining pool market.

According to data from miningpoolstats.stream (as of June 23, 2026), just four pools now account for over 70% of Bitcoin's total hashrate. That level of concentration raises legitimate questions about network decentralization — but it also has a more immediate, practical consequence: the big pools are increasingly optimizing for institutional clients, leaving independent and mid-size miners underserved.

The Top Players: Who Controls the Hashrate

Here's where things stand today:

*as for 30.06.2026

Foundry Digital (~31% of network)

Foundry USA has cemented itself as the dominant force in Bitcoin mining, controlling roughly a third of the network's total compute. Backed by Digital Currency Group and based in the United States, Foundry is built for one kind of customer: large-scale, institutional operators and publicly traded mining companies.

Strict KYC requirements and a heavy focus on regulatory compliance define the Foundry experience. Fee structures aren't publicly disclosed and are negotiated based on hashrate volume. For the average independent miner, access is either unavailable or impractical. This is a pool built for corporations — and it operates accordingly.

AntPool (~18% of network)

AntPool's second-place position is closely tied to its parent company, Bitmain — the world's largest ASIC manufacturer. The pool supports both FPPS and PPLNS payout models and offers merged mining across several blockchains.

In practice, AntPool's focus skews heavily toward institutional clients and large data centers. Miners who need customized terms, flexible fee structures, or responsive human support often find the experience frustrating. Issues outside standard templates typically get routed through automated ticketing systems with limited resolution.

F2Pool (~10% of network)

One of the industry's oldest active pools — operating since 2013 — F2Pool remains a reliable choice for experienced operators. Its globally distributed server infrastructure keeps latency low for miners across time zones, and it supports both FPPS and PPLNS models.

F2Pool's longevity is a genuine advantage, but scale has its trade-offs. The pool's customer approach tends toward standardization, which works well for large, sophisticated operations that rarely need hand-holding, but less so for smaller farms with non-routine questions or needs.

ViaBTC (~13% of network)

ViaBTC differentiates itself through flexibility — offering PPS+, PPLNS, and even solo mining within a pool structure. It has historically been popular in CIS and Asian markets and is not affiliated with any hardware manufacturer, which gives it more independence than AntPool.

That said, ViaBTC has attracted increasing regulatory scrutiny in 2026, particularly affecting miners from Russia and other CIS countries. Reports of account restrictions, sudden KYC demands, and temporary fund freezes have made the pool a riskier choice for that segment of the market.

The Emerging Gap — and Who's Filling It

The picture that emerges from this data is fairly clear: the pools with the most hashrate are also the most structurally oriented toward large-volume, compliance-heavy, institutional clients. That's a rational business decision on their part — but it leaves a meaningful portion of the mining population without a natural home.

Independent miners, small farm operators, and mid-size businesses that don't meet institutional thresholds increasingly find themselves navigating pools that weren't designed with them in mind. Fee structures aren't built for their scale. Support queues weren't built for their problems.

This is the gap that EMCD is specifically positioned to address.

EMCD: A Different Kind of Pool

With over 30 EH/s of hashrate and a place in the global top ten, EMCD isn't a small operation — but its operating philosophy is fundamentally different from the pools above it in the rankings.

EMCD's fee structure starts at 1.5% under FPPS, which is meaningfully lower than the 4% charged by most comparable pools. But the more significant differentiator is in how the pool approaches client relationships.

Where the industry giants have increasingly tiered their service models — premium support for large accounts, ticket queues for everyone else — EMCD has maintained a model where independent miners and large data centers receive comparable levels of attention. The team engages directly with clients on custom terms based on hashrate, and positions itself as a technical and operational partner, not just a payout endpoint.

This approach is backed by over nine years of operating experience in the mining industry. That institutional knowledge matters in a market environment as difficult as the current one — with difficulty climbing, margins thinning, and volatility creating operational complexity at every level.

What This Means for Miners in 2026

The consolidation of hashrate among a small number of institutional-first pools is unlikely to reverse in the near term. The economics of the current cycle favor scale, and large operators have every incentive to concentrate their hashrate in pools that serve their specific needs.

But that consolidation is also creating a structural opportunity for pools that can offer institutional-grade infrastructure with a more accessible service model. For independent and mid-size miners who feel increasingly invisible to the top-tier pools, the calculus around pool selection is shifting.

Technical performance, payout model, and fee structure remain the baseline criteria. But in a tighter market, responsiveness, flexibility, and the ability to get actual human support when something goes wrong are carrying more weight than they used to.

The mining pool market in 2026 has effectively split into two tiers. Knowing which tier is actually built for you matters more than it did before.

The post Bitcoin Mining Pools in 2026: Hashrate Consolidation Is Creating a Two-Tier Market — and Smaller Miners Are Feeling It appeared first on CryptoSlate.

XRP’s late-June washout removed a major source of market instability: excess leverage that could have turned another sharp move into a liquidation cycle. The next test is harder because XRP now needs ETF and spot buyers to carry the market without rebuilding the same crowded futures trade.

The rebound is now a test of real demand. XRP has moved away from the pressure zone that defined the late-June washout, when prior CryptoSlate coverage showed the token falling to $1.02, long liquidations accelerating, futures activity shrinking, and realized losses hitting the weakest reading since 2022.

A market can stabilize after sellers run out, but a sustained rebound requires new buyers to step in.

CryptoSlate's XRP market data shows the token trading near $1.08, up about 2.7% over seven days, with a market value of about $67 billion.

Coinglass data shows roughly $402 million in 24-hour spot volume against about $2.25 billion in futures volume, with open interest around $2.35 billion and about $8.3 million in liquidations over the prior day.

Bitcoin and Ethereum remain the main market anchors, with BTC dominance at 58.2% and ETH dominance at 9.9%.

While those numbers show XRP's setup has improved, they still don't answer the main question about demand. Futures look much more balanced than they did during the washout, although derivatives still dominate XRP's visible turnover. ETF demand has been steady in recent flow windows, but its scale remains too small to settle the question on its own.

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Jun 12, 2026 · Gino Matos

The reset lowers risk, but demand still has to show up

Open interest provides useful context for position size by showing how many futures contracts are active in the market. It tracks contracts that traders still hold, which helps show how much leverage may still be exposed to the next price move.

CoinGlass' open-interest guide noted that falling OI can reflect forced liquidations, voluntary exits, or traders reducing exposure as volatility rises.

That range of possible causes shows why XRP's reset can cut both ways. On the bullish side, fewer crowded positions mean fewer traders are sitting at liquidation levels that can turn a normal price move into a chain of forced selling.

We've seen this happen at the end of June. XRP's drop toward $1.07 triggered about $9 million in long liquidations, and XRP open interest fell to about $2.34 billion.

Futures turnover was also down to roughly $2.84 billion from more than $30 billion during the same period last year.

That is a real reduction in speculative pressure across the XRP derivatives market. It means XRP can climb from a smaller pile of leveraged long positions. A smaller rally from that base can be healthier because fewer distressed positions are being closed into every bounce.

The bearish case is that a lower-risk setup still needs a demand engine. If open interest stopped expanding because traders lost conviction, the absence of forced sellers could be what creates temporary relief.

The market still needs a replacement buyer, and the obvious candidates are spot traders and ETF allocators.

The current numbers keep the picture balanced. While spot volume is meaningful, futures volume still represents a much larger share of XRP's visible trading activity in CoinGlass data.

Liquidations have moved out of the main headlines, but open interest remains large enough for XRP to become a leverage-driven trade again. That risk increases if traders rebuild positions faster than spot demand improves.

That leaves a practical hurdle for any sustained move. XRP can coexist with active derivatives markets, but it needs spot buying and ETF allocations to expand while leverage stays contained.

A bounce driven mainly by lower liquidation pressure can give the market time to stabilize. However, sustained strength requires buyers who can absorb future selling from holders waiting to exit near cost.

ETF demand has been steady, but scale is the caveat

The stronger case for a healthier XRP market comes from regulated products that have continued to draw selective interest during broader risk-off periods. These products are an important part of the market because they represent demand outside the high-leverage futures trade.

CryptoSlate's recent institutional-flow coverage showed that from June 22 to June 26, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs lost about $1.79 billion and U.S. Ethereum ETFs lost about $273.5 million.

XRP spot ETFs took in $22.99 million during the same period. That flow was directionally important because it showed XRP products gained assets while the largest ETF complexes saw outflows.

However, it's important to note that the signal also came at a limited scale, because XRP's $22.99 million inflow sat beside roughly $2.06 billion in combined Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF outflows.

That stops short of a wholesale rotation into XRP, but it points to selective buying in a market where institutions were still cutting broad crypto beta.

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Jun 29, 2026 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

CoinShares' June 1 fund-flow report carried a similar message. Digital asset investment products saw $1.67 billion of outflows, with Bitcoin losing $1.438 billion and Ethereum losing $257 million.

XRP was one of the few altcoins with meaningful positive demand, drawing $20.3 million. Again, the signal was positive, while the scale was modest compared with the capital leaving the largest assets.

The ETF inflows carry weight because they represent a different type of exposure from leveraged futures positions.

The Franklin XRP ETF S-1 says the fund is passive, seeks to reflect the price of XRP before expenses, and will avoid leverage, derivatives, or similar instruments.

Franklin's launch release said XRPZ is structured as a grantor trust that holds XRP, with Coinbase Custody Trust Company serving as XRP custodian. The product page listed total net assets of $230.71 million as of June 7.

Grayscale's GXRP page uses a similar passive framing, saying the fund is solely and passively invested in XRP. It also states that the fund seeks to reflect the value of XRP held by the trust, less expenses and liabilities.

There is a straightforward reason ETFs could provide stronger long-term support for XRP. ETF demand is much steadier than high-leverage futures activity because it moves through brokerage accounts, custody arrangements, and fund-share creation mechanics.

If allocations keep arriving, they can absorb XRP supply without depending on traders borrowing to make directional bets.

ETF demand becomes a dominant price force only when net creations are persistent enough to go against the rest of the market. Those creations are important because they indicate when ETF demand requires that underlying XRP enter the fund wrapper.

CryptoSlate's earlier ETF analysis separated AUM from fresh buying because AUM can rise for several reasons. It can increase when price rises, when seed inventory exists, or when investors trade ETF shares with each other.

Net creations give a much better signal because they show the part of the ETF process that requires new XRP purchases. That makes them a more useful measure of direct ETF demand than AUM alone.

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Jan 3, 2026 · Andjela Radmilac

What would make XRP's move durable?

The next phase for XRP depends on whether a different buyer base is willing to take over after the worst of the wipeout.

A healthier XRP move can happen alongside active futures trading because liquid derivatives markets are normal for large tokens.

What would matter is balance: open interest that does not outrun spot buying, ETF flows that remain positive across several reports, and custody balances that show shares are backed by real XRP accumulation rather than secondary-market churn.

The available data is insufficient to prove that XRP's rally is mostly short covering, though it shows why that explanation remains plausible enough to watch.

If price rises while futures volume dominates and open interest looks driven by position cleanup rather than fresh spot demand, the rally would be less convincing. If price holds while ETF inflows continue and spot volume improves, the market would show a stronger buyer base.

The most important shift is psychological. During the capitulation phase, XRP's market was defined by traders who wanted to sell. After the wipeout, it's defined by who actually wants to buy.

ETF demand and spot accumulation can answer that question when they appear in the data with enough persistence and scale. The flows need to be large and consistent enough to matter against futures activity and spot selling.

For now, XRP's market structure is cleaner than it was during the late-June stress, which gives it a better starting point.

The next leg still has to show that ETF and spot buyers can provide stronger support than the relief created by the absence of forced sellers.

The post XRP cleaned out leverage, now ETF demand has to prove itself appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Pump.fun built one of crypto’s fastest meme-token liquidity machines. Now, on July 12, its own token faces the kind of liquidity test the platform usually creates for others.

The platform’s PUMP token is set to unlock on July 12, with Tokenomist valuing it at $127 million, equal to 29.23% of the circulating supply.

The scheduled release is tied to insider allocations: Tokenomist’s weekly unlock digest describes the tranche as flowing to team and early investors, while its PUMP vesting page identifies the next release as Existing Investors.

That matters because PUMP is facing a large scheduled release against an order book that recently showed far less daily turnover than the unlock size.

CryptoSlate market pages showed PUMP trading near $0.00155 on July 8, with 24-hour volume between roughly $64 million and $70 million across the PUMP asset page and the broader coin rankings.

The scheduled cliff is therefore close to twice recent visible daily volume before any adjustment for how much of the unlocked allocation is actually sold.

The full $127 million may stay off exchanges if recipients hold. Unlock size only sets the maximum new supply available; sell-through decides the pressure.

But the token is entering a more direct liquidity test than most meme-coin narratives produce: if recipients hold, demand may absorb the date. If they sell into weak depth, the unlock can turn from a calendar entry into visible exit pressure.

Related Reading

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Jul 15, 2025 · Gino Matos

Why the PUMP unlock comes in one block

Tokenomist’s vesting page says roughly 402.96 billion PUMP, or 40.30% of the token’s 1 trillion supply, has already been unlocked. The remaining supply is still governed by the project’s vesting schedule, which extends into 2029.

The same page says Pump.fun uses cliff vesting across most allocations, meaning tokens are released in large, scheduled blocks rather than being smoothed into the market over time.

That is why the July 12 event is more than a tokenomics footnote. Cliff structures concentrate risk into dates traders can see in advance.

Traders can price them in, hedge them, ignore them, or use them as liquidity windows. The supply still arrives in a visible block.

The upcoming release also lands in a token whose float is still maturing. Tokenomist lists the Initial Coin Offering at 33% of allocation, Community & Ecosystem Initiatives at 24%, Team at 20%, Existing Investors at 13%, Livestreaming at 3%, Liquidity & Exchanges at 2.6%, Ecosystem Fund at 2.4%, and Foundation at 2%. That mix puts a meaningful share of future supply in categories whose behavior can shape market confidence.

The strongest bearish case is simple. A large block of insider-controlled PUMP becomes available while the token’s daily trading volume is lower than the scheduled release amount.

If even a meaningful portion of that allocation seeks liquidity, buyers have to absorb it without demanding a larger discount. That is the definition of an exit-liquidity test.

The strongest counterargument is also straightforward. Recipients can hold unlocked tokens, and PUMP is attached to a platform with real activity, fees, and past buyback demand.

The trade turns on two observable outcomes: supply meets enough demand to clear without lasting damage, or the market reprices PUMP because the available bid is thinner than the insider supply.

For traders, timing is the point. Cliff vesting compresses a supply decision that could have unfolded over months into a single window, so price action around the date becomes a live signal of confidence, depth, and whether holders want cash or exposure.

Pump Fun retail demand was already tested once

The tension is more acute because Pump.fun’s token already had one spectacular demand event. CryptoSlate reported in July 2025 that the memecoin launchpad sold 150 billion PUMP tokens to retail investors, raising $600 million in 12 minutes and bringing total token-sale proceeds to $1.32 billion.

That was primary-market demand under launch conditions. The July 12 cliff tests something different: whether secondary-market liquidity can absorb supply after the trade has aged, the token has fallen far below its peak, and insiders have a new path to liquidity.

The platform context makes the reversal harder to miss. Pump.fun built its reputation by making meme-token creation and trading fast.

CryptoSlate’s launchpad review describes it as a Solana-native, bonding-curve launchpad where ordinary users can usually buy and sell quickly, and where the practical constraint is liquidity rather than formal vesting.

In other words, Pump.fun turned fast retail flow into a product.

Now PUMP has to demonstrate that the same market reflex exists for its own token when the seller profile changes. Retail buyers once funded the token sale at extraordinary speed.

The next question is whether secondary traders are willing to provide sufficient depth when the scheduled supply comes from the team and investor categories rather than from new public demand.

The question is market structure rather than a moral judgment about meme coins. PUMP can remain a tradable, revenue-linked token and still face pressure from cliff vesting.

It can also suffer short-term volatility without proving the business is broken. The important point is that the July 12 date turns an abstract dilution risk into a measurable trade.

That is where Pump.fun’s own design history tightens the story. The launchpad trained users to expect immediate market access and fast exits; PUMP’s unlock asks whether the platform’s token has the same depth when the flow moves in the other direction.

The platform created liquid attention for thousands of tokens, but insider supply tests whether attention is durable enough to support its own market.

PUMP buybacks make the case for absorption

The strongest case for absorption rests on Pump.fun’s revenue and buyback history. Tokenomist’s digest notes that Pump.fun has been a consistent revenue generator and has run token buybacks in the past, which can absorb some incremental supply if the program is large enough.

CryptoSlate previously examined that question in the broader token-buyback market, noting that Pump.fun had spent $233 million to buy 62.2 billion PUMP as of Jan. 6.

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Jul 16, 2025 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

The same buyback analysis warned that buyback programs only change the supply picture when fee revenue scales faster than scheduled unlocks.

That is the relevant filter for the July 12 cliff. A buyback headline is insufficient on its own.

What matters is coverage: how much demand the program creates relative to newly available supply, and whether that demand is visible when insiders are allowed to sell.

If PUMP volume rises into the unlock, price holds, and buyback demand is evident, the market can interpret the event as manageable dilution.

The result would leave future vesting risk in place, but it would show that the token has a deeper bid than the headline unlock suggests.

If volume rises while price weakens, the signal changes. Heavy turnover can mean absorption, but it can also mean distribution.

The difference is whether buyers are taking supply without forcing a sustained discount. That is why post-unlock price behavior matters more than the unlock calendar itself.

The broader backdrop adds pressure. Tokenomist’s weekly digest described June as defensive, with Bitcoin dropping below $60,000 late in the month and spot Bitcoin ETF flows acting as a headwind.

It also said capital had become selective, favoring tokens with clearer revenue and value-accrual mechanics rather than the market as a whole. That is a mixed setup for PUMP: the project has revenue, but the token has a large insider cliff.

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Jun 19, 2026 · Gino Matos

The verdict comes after July 12

Before the unlock, the cleanest conclusion is conditional. Pump.fun’s July 12 cliff is large enough, concentrated enough, and close enough to recent visible daily volume to qualify as PUMP’s first real exit-liquidity test.

Sell-through remains the missing variable.

The next signal will come from how PUMP trades after the tokens become available.

A constructive outcome would show elevated volume without a lasting price break, limited evidence of exchange-bound supply, and enough demand or buyback activity to keep the market orderly.

A weaker outcome would show heavy volume paired with price deterioration, suggesting that liquidity is being used to exit rather than to accumulate.

That makes July 12 a deadline with a measurable aftermath. Pump.fun built one of crypto’s fastest retail attention machines.

PUMP now has to show whether that attention is deep enough to meet insider supply when the cliff arrives.

The post Pump Fun is unlocking $127M insider tokens worth double PUMP’s recent daily volume appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The US Senate returns to Washington next week with 20 working days to decide whether the CLARITY Act, which is the most advanced crypto market-structure bill in Congress, becomes law this summer or slips into another round of delay.

Data from CryptoSlate shows that Bitcoin has climbed about 10% this month after a bruising June, rising from late-month lows to briefly trade above $64,000 before pulling back near $61,881 late Wednesday morning.

The recovery has steadied market sentiment, but traders are still looking for confirmation that the bounce has more behind it than short covering and relief after weeks of selling pressure.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has become one of the clearest candidates for that next catalyst.

The legislation is designed to establish a federal framework for digital asset markets and clarify how oversight is split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The bill's supporters say that structure would give exchanges, developers, token issuers and institutional investors a clearer path through US rules after years of enforcement fights and agency disputes.

However, the measure has already missed one major marker. In May, CryptoSlate reported that White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt had publicly targeted July 4 for the bill to be signed into law.

But that date passed with no Senate floor vote, no cloture motion and no final deal on the issues still dividing lawmakers.

With the Senate returning from recess on July 13, its final scheduled working day before the August break is Aug. 7. That leaves supporters roughly four weeks to force action on a bill that has momentum on paper but no guaranteed path through the chamber.

The calendar has overtaken the bill

The missed July 4 target has shifted the bill's momentum from legislative progress to floor time.

The Clarity Act, formally H.R. 3633, has advanced further than any previous US crypto market-structure effort. The House passed its version on July 17, 2025, by a 294-134 vote, with more than 70 Democrats crossing party lines. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill on May 14, 2026, by a 15-9 vote, placing it within reach of full Senate consideration.

While that record gives supporters a stronger case than earlier crypto bills ever had, it also makes the current stall more consequential.

The bill sits at Calendar No. 423 on the Senate Legislative Calendar, meaning it is formally available for floor action. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not allocated floor time, and no cloture motion has been filed to limit debate.

The remaining steps are still difficult. The Senate must debate the bill, secure 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, reconcile differences between the House and Senate approaches, and send a final version to President Donald Trump.

A July floor debate would show that Senate leadership believes the bill has enough support to spend scarce chamber time. It would also force lawmakers to resolve the two issues still holding the package back: how far to go on law enforcement language and how strong to make the ethics provisions.

However, a delay into September would leave the bill alive but weaker. Congress would return to a crowded agenda, with funding fights, election-year politics and other priorities competing for time. A measure that could not get a vote before the August break may find it harder to regain momentum later in the year.

That risk has pushed crypto supporters into a compressed lobbying campaign.

Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, has urged lawmakers to focus on the weeks of July 13 and July 20, calling the bill this generation’s market-structure law for digital assets. Stand With Crypto, the Coinbase-backed advocacy group, has also urged supporters to call senators and press for a vote before Aug. 7.

The campaign reflects the bill’s unusual position: close enough to law to affect market expectations, but still vulnerable to dying on the Senate calendar.

Law enforcement shift opens room

The push for a July vote gained a tactical boost after a major law enforcement group endorsed the bill, but the compromise that helped ease opposition could still become a new source of friction.

Last week, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) sent a letter to Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backing the Clarity Act.

The group said the bill would give investigators meaningful new tools while preserving existing criminal enforcement powers used in money laundering and unlicensed money-transmission cases.

The endorsement was important because law enforcement objections had become one of the most visible threats to the bill’s bipartisan coalition. NOBLE specifically cited provisions aimed at digital asset kiosk crime, crypto ATM fraud, money laundering and unlicensed money-transmitting businesses.

The group also backed the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) language included in Section 604, the portion of the bill that has drawn the sharpest scrutiny from other enforcement groups.

That section would shield developers and blockchain infrastructure providers from money-transmitter rules when they do not control customer funds.

Crypto firms view the provision as essential. Without it, they argue, software developers and network operators could face financial-intermediary obligations even when they never custody assets or move customer money.

Meanwhile, other law enforcement voices have been less comfortable. The Major County Sheriffs of America recently shifted to a neutral position after further discussions over Section 604.

The group said lawmakers still had room to strengthen the bill in ways that support innovation while meeting the practical needs of state and local investigators.

That neutral stance removed one layer of opposition, but it did not settle the drafting fight. If negotiators weaken Section 604 too far, they risk losing industry support. If they preserve it without changes, they risk leaving some senators uneasy about enforcement gaps.

The bill now has a better law enforcement story than it had a week ago. It still has to survive the fine print.

Ethics fight threatens the vote count

Even with law enforcement pressure easing, the bill faces a harder political obstacle over Trump’s crypto income and the ethics rules that Democrats want attached to any final package.

Trump’s financial disclosures showed more than $1 billion in crypto-related income last year, including hundreds of millions of dollars tied to the TRUMP memecoin.

Due to this, Democrats have intensified demands for restrictions on elected officials and their families profiting from digital asset ventures while Congress writes the sector’s rules.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, has made that fight central to her opposition. In a post on X, she stated:

“Any crypto legislation that does not stop Donald Trump and his family from continuing to profit off of crypto is failing the American people.”

Her position has sharpened the pressure on Democrats who supported the bill in committee.

Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, one of two Democrats who voted to advance the measure in May, has said his continued support depends on a strong ethics agreement before any floor vote. That makes him a key figure in the Senate math.

Republicans need Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold. Moving ahead without an ethics compromise could cost the bill the support needed to clear a filibuster.

At the same time, accepting broader ethics language could slow negotiations and create new disputes with Republicans who want the legislation focused on market structure.

Still, either path eats into the same 20-day window and shortens the available time for the bill.

Bitcoin traders are watching the clock

The impending Senate deadline has already started to show up in market expectations.

Polymarket odds that the Clarity Act will be signed into law in 2026 rose to about 55% after the law enforcement shift, then slid toward 45% as traders refocused on the short calendar and unresolved ethics negotiations.

That swing captures the risk facing Bitcoin’s rebound. The market has not priced passage as certain. Instead, it has priced the bill as a live catalyst that could either strengthen the recovery or vanish into the August break.

James Thorne, chief market strategist at Wellington Altus, has called the Clarity Act an overtly bullish milestone because it would bring digital assets more directly into the SEC-CFTC market framework. He added:

“[The bill] accelerates institutional adoption and clears the regulatory runway for Bitcoin to migrate from speculative asset to primary collateral and, eventually, de facto legal tender in a system that increasingly has to meet Bitcoin on its own terms rather than marginalize it.”

Grayscale has also tied the bill to Bitcoin’s near-term path. In its constructive scenario, the Clarity Act clears the Senate, digital asset treasury companies stabilize, and the Federal Reserve avoids another rate hike. Under that setup, Bitcoin may already be close to its low.

The downside case is more difficult. If the bill fails this year, digital asset treasury companies deleverage further and inflation forces the Fed toward tighter policy, Bitcoin could face renewed pressure.

The post Bitcoin’s rally has 4 weeks to get its Washington CLARITY catalyst before the clock runs out appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Crypto woke up in the red today, July 8, 2026. Just a day after Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP had pushed past key levels and the mood was turning optimistic, the market flipped within hours. The trigger wasn't anything on-chain — it came from the Middle East.

The US conducted airstrikes against Iranian targets in retaliation for Iran firing on non-military ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Risk assets sold off almost immediately, and crypto — as it so often does when geopolitics turns ugly — was first to bleed. 

What actually happened between the US and Iran?

The escalation landed at an especially fragile moment. Talks between the two countries were already on pause as Iran observes a weeklong funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and now the airstrikes and the president's recent comments put long-term peace into serious jeopardy. 

Then came the words that spooked traders most. Addressing NATO leaders, US President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire "over" and said negotiating with Iran is a "waste of time," though talks reportedly continue. He went further later in the day: Trump said the US will "very probably" hit Iran again tonight, warning that Washington could strike hard.

Iran, for its part, isn't backing down. Tehran's foreign ministry framed the US action as a "clear and material breach of Article 10 of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Cessation of War," and reports indicate Iran has begun retaliatory strikes, firing anti-ship cruise missiles and drones at US Navy warships in the Sea of Oman. In other words, the MoU that had underpinned the fragile truce now looks effectively dead.

How far did crypto prices fall?

The damage was broad rather than catastrophic — a risk-off flinch, not a full capitulation. Most cryptos dropped on average 2.9% since midnight UTC, with all but one token declining. Bitcoin and ether fell more than 2% after Trump declared the ceasefire "over."

Looking at the majors: Bitcoin slipped back toward the $61,000–$62,000 zone, Ethereum lost the momentum that had briefly carried it above $1,800 and dropped toward $1,720, and XRP was among the hardest hit of the large caps, sliding around 5% on the day to about $1.07. Solana took the worst of it among the majors — Solana has now completely retraced a rally that began on July 2, trading back near $77 after challenging $84 on Monday.

Why did altcoins get hit hardest?

This is the pattern almost every time fear spikes: the further out on the risk curve, the harder the fall. Altcoins bore the brunt, with $350 million of the $450 million in total liquidations coming from altcoin pairs, and tokens like JUP, ETHFI and PUMP losing between 5.5% and 9.3%.

When traders de-risk, they rotate out of speculative small caps first and hold the majors longer, which is exactly why an index like the CMC20 and coins further down the list show steeper 24-hour losses than Bitcoin itself.

Why does a Middle East conflict move Bitcoin at all?

It comes down to how the market treats crypto right now — as a risk asset, not a safe haven. Demand for risk-based assets like crypto tends to decline during uncertain geopolitical situations such as this.

There's also a direct macro channel through oil. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical oil chokepoints, so strikes in the area push energy prices up fast. Following the escalation, Brent crude rose 2.05% to $75.68 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate gained 2.07% to $71.90. Higher oil feeds inflation fears, which pressures rate expectations, which drains liquidity from speculative assets — crypto included. When oil spikes and yields rise, crypto is historically the first to bleed.

Was the market already vulnerable before the strikes?

Yes — and that context matters for anyone trying to gauge what comes next. The sell-off didn't hit a healthy market; it hit one that was still recovering. As Yahoo Finance noted, crypto is already trying to recover from one of its worst monthly performances in years. You can see that strain in the year-to-date numbers on today's board: even blue-chips like Ethereum sit deep in the red for 2026, so sentiment was thin to begin with.

At the same time, it's worth keeping perspective. This isn't 2022 — institutional infrastructure is stronger, and corporate balance sheets are actively participating. On-chain accumulation hasn't stopped either: Tom Lee's Bitmine bought another 40,000 ETH worth $71.6 million, following a 42,000 ETH purchase the previous week as it pushes toward 5% of total supply.

Where does crypto go from here?

The uncomfortable truth for holders is that crypto's next move probably won't be decided on-chain at all. While it trades like a risk asset, direction is being set by headlines out of the Middle East and by the oil market. Watch three things: whether Iran's retaliation escalates or cools, whether the ceasefire gets stitched back together despite the "over" rhetoric, and whether oil keeps climbing.

Most leveraged stock products in Europe are CFDs — synthetic contracts where you never actually own the underlying asset, capped by regulators at 5x for retail traders. As of today, July 8, 2026, Bitpanda is doing something the European market hasn't seen before: leverage on real stocks and ETFs.

The Vienna-based fintech is expanding its offering with margin trading for stocks and ETFs, letting users trade more than 875 securities with leverage of up to 20x. The key difference from every CFD provider out there — you're buying into the actual underlying assets, not betting on a price feed.

What is Bitpanda Margin Trading on Real Securities?

At its core, margin trading means borrowing capital to open a position larger than your own funds allow. 20x means that someone putting in €500 controls a €10,000 position — and gains and losses multiply accordingly.

What sets this launch apart is what you're actually trading. You aren't trading CFDs or synthetic contracts. You get direct exposure to the real security — with everything that comes with genuine ownership. Bitpanda is building this on top of its Real Securities brokerage, which has been running since January 29, 2026. What's new now is the leverage layered on top.

With real securities, that ownership is meaningful: you hold actual shares in your securities account rather than derivatives, and as a shareholder you're entitled to dividends, stock splits, mergers, and other corporate actions handled according to issuer and exchange rules.

How does Bitpanda offer 20x when EU rules cap leverage at 5x?

This is the clever part, and it's worth understanding. In the EU, leveraged stock products face a strict limit: the regulator ESMA caps stock CFDs — bets on price movements without real share ownership — at 5:1 for retail clients.

But that ceiling only applies to CFDs. Because this is classic securities margin rather than a CFD, ESMA's CFD leverage limits don't apply here — and 20x becomes possible. The mechanics behind it: clients put up their own capital and borrow the rest in the form of Bitpanda's euro stablecoin EURCV to fund the position.

What are the fees?

This is where the launch gets aggressive on pricing. Buying is order-fee-free, a flat €1 fee applies on selling, and for clients in Austria and Germany the platform also handles the tax settlement on capital gains. On top of that sits a daily funding fee of 0.03% on the borrowed amount, per Bitpanda's launch materials.

The zero-fee headline comes with one caveat worth flagging for readers: the advertised "zero order fee" applies only to the order fee on buying. The borrowed capital still carries a daily funding cost, which compounds the longer a position stays open. 

Who is this actually for?

Here's the part the marketing tends to skip, and it matters. Leverage this high on individual stocks is a fundamentally different risk profile than leverage on crypto or broad ETFs. Unlike crypto, stocks don't trade around the clock — trading happens on a regulated exchange with fixed hours, not 24/7. Real Securities trade Monday to Friday, 07:30–23:00, not 24/7.

That creates gap risk. If a price gaps overnight or over the weekend — say, after a bad earnings report — your position can open at a loss before you can even react. And with 20x, it doesn't take much: if a stock moves just 5% against you, your entire stake is wiped out. A 5% gap after a profit warning is completely normal for single stocks.

For context on how leverage plays out for retail traders, Bitpanda's own CFD product "Leverage" discloses that 53.24% of retail client accounts lose money trading CFDs with the provider — and that's at a maximum of 2x. This new product goes to ten times that ratio. Margin trading here is squarely aimed at experienced traders who understand liquidation, funding costs, and risk management — not beginners looking for a shortcut. 

Why this launch matters for the European market

Zooming out, this fits a clear strategic arc. The move suits Bitpanda's shift from crypto broker to multi-asset platform — in a year when the market is speculating about a possible Bitpanda IPO. And it slots into a broader European trend: more and more retail platforms are bringing leveraged products to a wide audience. The upside is real — so is the downside risk.

By sidestepping the CFD structure entirely, Bitpanda has found a route to high leverage that its CFD-bound competitors structurally can't match. Whether that's an advantage or simply a higher-stakes version of the same game depends entirely on how it's used.

Ready to explore Bitpanda Margin Trading on real stocks and ETFs?

➡️ Trade over 875 real stocks and ETFs with up to 20x leverage — direct ownership, 0% buy fees, and automatic tax handling in Germany and Austria. Unlike CFDs, you get real exposure to the underlying assets, not synthetic contracts.

Get started with Bitpanda Margin Trading →

There was no code exploit. No compromised private key. No phishing link. And yet BonkDAO says attackers stole about $20 million in BONK through a malicious governance proposal targeting its Solana treasury. 

The attacker didn't break the rules — they bought them.

What happened to BONK DAO?

$BONK is a Solana-based memecoin, and BONK DAO is the community body that governs it. Token holders vote on proposals, and if a vote passes, it executes automatically on-chain. That design is exactly what got weaponized.

The sequence began on June 30, when an anonymous wallet submitted a proposal to transfer the treasury's holdings to a wallet it controlled. That proposal was titled "BIP #76 – Sowellian BonkDAO," and it read more like a pitch than a heist: it sought to "implement Sowellian governance, install new members and council, rebuild from the ashes, monetize holdings, and stop the bleeding," and dangled a reward promising all "yes" voters would be eligible to receive BONK tokens. 

Buried underneath the marketing language sat the only line that mattered — an instruction to transfer roughly 4.4 trillion BONK straight to the attacker's wallet.

How did the attacker pass a fake proposal?

This is the part that should keep every DAO up at night. The proposal needed "yes" votes equal to 1% of BONK's supply to hit quorum. So the attacker simply went and bought it. Over July 4 and 5, a separate wallet acquired exactly that much, spending about $4.4 million to buy BONK on the exchanges Bybit and Binance. 

By the time voting closed, the numbers were almost surgically precise. The proposal passed with just seven wallets voting, against more than 18,000 members who did not — a turnout of 2.9%. It cleared quorum by the narrowest margin, 882.38 billion BONK in favor against an 879.95 billion threshold, almost exactly the stake the attacker had spent days assembling.

The result? The 99.9% "yes" result was effectively a single voter agreeing with itself. The DAO then did what it was built to do — it executed the transfer automatically, and about $20 million in BONK moved out of the treasury into the attacker's wallet. 

Bonk DAO Attack: Where did the money go?

The stolen tokens didn't stick around. More than 4.4 trillion BONK — valued at approximately $19.3 million at the time of transfer — moved out of the treasury to an address ending in "JHvQ," identified via Solscan as having been funded through a Bybit account. By 3:30 p.m. ET the same day, the tokens had been moved again, this time to a different Solana address ending in "eh42."

The promised voter rewards never materialized. The tokens were never distributed — instead they were shuffled to a second address hours later, a pattern consistent with an attacker trying to obscure the trail rather than honor any community commitment. Security firm PeckShield later flagged that roughly $148,000 worth of stolen BONK has already moved to OKX.

Was Bonk DAO Hacked?

Technically, no — and that's the uncomfortable part. The attacker didn't exploit a bug in any smart contract. The root issue was governance design, not code. Every single step was a valid, authorized on-chain transaction.

With no timelock, quorum minimum, or multisig check in place to catch an anomalous proposal before it executed, a well-funded attacker was able to turn a $4 million token purchase into control over a $20 million treasury. A timelock would have forced a delay between approval and execution, giving the community a window to spot the drain. A multisig override could have frozen it in an emergency. BONK DAO had neither.

This has reopened an old debate. Because every step was a valid transaction, some on-chain observers argued the attacker simply exploited a weak governance design rather than breaking in. The lesson stands either way: a treasury that can be drained by whoever assembles a temporary voting majority is only as secure as the cost of buying that majority — and here, that cost was a fraction of the prize.

What is BONK DAO doing about it?

BonkDAO has notified law enforcement and is working with the Solana Foundation, centralized exchanges, and network bridges to recover funds. It said it had identified the exchange wallets used to buy tokens ahead of the vote — and the involvement of law enforcement makes clear the DAO is treating this as an attack, not a clever loophole.

Recovery, though, is an uphill battle. Governance attacks are notoriously hard to reverse precisely because they run through the protocol's own legitimate machinery.

How did BONK's price react?

The market response was surprisingly contained given the scale. BONK prices are down about 7% in the past 24 hours in the aftermath of the attack. Exchanges moved fast — South Korean exchange Upbit and American exchange Kraken both paused deposits and withdrawals of the BONK token, with Upbit citing "user protection measures following the circumstances of a security incident."

Ethereum is back in the spotlight as the crypto market rebounds, but this time the main story is not only about price. While Bitcoin reclaimed the $63,000 level after President Trump’s latest pro crypto comments, a deeper institutional shift may be forming between Bitcoin and Ethereum.

BitMine, the Ethereum treasury company chaired by Tom Lee, has continued adding ETH to its balance sheet. Its latest weekly update shows that the company acquired 42,197 ETH, bringing total holdings to 5,742,237 ETH, equal to around 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply. BitMine also said its total crypto, cash, marketable securities, and “moonshot” holdings reached $11.1 billion.

At the same time, Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 3,588 Bitcoin for around $216 million to fund dividends on its preferred stock. Strategy still holds a massive 843,775 BTC, but the sale matters because it challenges the long running market belief that Saylor’s company only buys and never sells.

That contrast is now shaping the latest Ethereum price prediction: is institutional capital slowly rotating from Bitcoin into ETH?

BitMine Keeps Buying Ethereum

BitMine has become the biggest Ethereum treasury story in the market. The company’s strategy is clear: accumulate ETH, stake a large portion of it, and move closer to its long term goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s total supply.

According to BitMine’s latest update, the company now owns 5.74 million ETH, with 4.87 million ETH staked. This means BitMine is not only holding Ethereum as a treasury asset, but also using it to generate staking rewards. The company said its staked ETH could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annualized staking revenue depending on yields and full deployment.

This is important because it gives Ethereum a different institutional narrative from Bitcoin. Bitcoin is mainly seen as digital gold, a reserve asset, and a macro hedge. Ethereum, on the other hand, can be held, staked, and used as infrastructure for stablecoins, DeFi, tokenization, and smart contract activity.

That is why BitMine’s buying matters for ETH price predictions. The story is no longer just “Ethereum follows Bitcoin.” The market now has a direct Ethereum treasury buyer with a clear accumulation target.

Strategy Sells Bitcoin: Why It Matters

Strategy’s Bitcoin sale does not mean Michael Saylor has turned bearish on BTC. The company still owns more Bitcoin than any other public company and remains the largest corporate BTC holder in the world.

However, the sale changes the psychology of the market.

For years, Strategy was viewed as the ultimate Bitcoin accumulator. Every purchase supported the idea that institutional demand would keep absorbing supply. But the latest sale shows that even the largest BTC treasury company may need to sell coins when corporate obligations, dividends, or balance sheet pressure require liquidity.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Strategy sold 3,588 BTC to fund dividends on preferred stock, raising around $216 million. The company still holds 843,775 BTC, but the sale came after it unveiled a broader plan to strengthen investor confidence.

This does not destroy the Bitcoin thesis, but it does introduce a new question: if BTC stays under pressure, could Strategy sell more?

That uncertainty is exactly why Ethereum’s treasury story looks more attractive today. While Strategy is selling some Bitcoin to manage obligations, BitMine is still adding Ethereum.

Ethereum Price Prediction: Can ETH Break Higher?

Ethereum is trading near the $1,790 area in the latest market snapshot, up around 1% on the day. The key level to watch now is the $1,800 to $1,850 resistance zone.

If ETH breaks above this area with volume, the next upside targets are:

$1,900 as the first breakout confirmation level.
$2,000 as the psychological target.
$2,150 to $2,200 if the market starts pricing in stronger institutional ETH demand.

The bullish case depends on three factors. First, Bitcoin needs to hold above the $63,000 area and avoid another sharp rejection. Second, ETH needs to reclaim $1,850 and turn it into support. Third, BitMine’s accumulation story needs to remain strong enough to convince traders that Ethereum has its own catalyst.

If these conditions align, Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin in the short term.

However, the bearish scenario is still possible. If ETH fails to hold above $1,750, the price could retest the $1,700 area. A deeper correction could bring Ethereum back toward $1,620 to $1,600, especially if Bitcoin loses momentum or if investors treat Strategy’s BTC sale as a warning sign for crypto treasury stocks.

Is This the Start of a BTC to ETH Rotation?

The strongest part of this story is the contrast.

Bitcoin is rebounding after political support from President Trump and a broader market recovery. But Bitcoin is also dealing with a major treasury headline: Strategy sold BTC.

Ethereum is also recovering, but it has a cleaner institutional accumulation story. BitMine is buying ETH, staking ETH, and openly moving toward a 5% supply target. That gives Ethereum a fresh narrative at a time when traders are looking for the next crypto leader.

This does not mean Bitcoin is weak. BTC remains the largest crypto asset, the main institutional gateway, and the market’s liquidity anchor. But Ethereum may now have the more interesting short term setup because its story is shifting from underperformance to accumulation.

If Bitcoin stability combines with continued ETH buying, Ethereum could become the stronger rebound trade.

Final Thoughts

The latest Ethereum price prediction is becoming more bullish, not only because ETH is recovering, but because the market narrative is changing.

BitMine is buying and staking Ethereum while Strategy is selling part of its Bitcoin holdings to meet corporate obligations. That contrast creates a powerful headline: Bitcoin may still be the king, but Ethereum is becoming the new institutional treasury battleground.

As long as ETH holds above $1,700 and pushes toward $1,850, the next move could target $1,900 and then $2,000. But if the market loses confidence and Bitcoin falls back below key support, Ethereum could still retest lower levels before any bigger breakout.

For now, Ethereum has something it has lacked for months: a fresh institutional catalyst that could help ETH outperform if the crypto rebound continues.

Ripple, the company behind the XRP Ledger, has landed one of the most significant regulatory milestones in its European history — and $XRP has climbed roughly 8% over the past week to trade near $1.15. But before you read this as "XRP got approved," there's an important distinction worth understanding.

What exactly did Ripple get approved for?

On June 23, 2026, Luxembourg's financial regulator, the CSSF, issued Ripple a preliminary Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. The approval, in the form of a "Green Light Letter," is subject to final conditions, and will enable Ripple to scale regulated cryptoasset services to financial institutions and businesses across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area.

Here's the catch: this is a company-level license, not a token approval. $XRP the asset didn't "get approved" to do anything — MiCA licenses are granted to service providers, not to coins. Combined with Ripple's existing EU Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence, the CASP license means European banks, fintechs and corporates can access Ripple's full cryptoasset and stablecoins payments infrastructure — collect, exchange and pay out — through a single integration for the first time.

Why does "preliminary" matter?

A Green Light Letter is not the finished product. It's the CSSF's signal that a firm has met the substantive requirements, but full authorization — and with it, the ability to formally passport services across the EEA — follows only once all remaining conditions are met. There's precedent for this moving quickly, though: Ripple's EMI license went from Green Light in January to full authorization by early February 2026.

The timing is also strategic. The approval arrives just days before the July 1, 2026, hard deadline, after which unlicensed crypto firms operating in the EU are in breach of MiCA rules. By mid-2026, around 83% of EU crypto firms had not secured MiCA licenses, leaving Ripple among approximately 210 compliant firms — a pool that notably does not include Binance.

Is this actually bullish for XRP Coin?

This is where objectivity matters. The commercial engine of this approval is RLUSD, Ripple's regulated stablecoin, and Ripple Payments infrastructure — not the $XRP token directly. In Ripple's own announcement, XRP appeared essentially as boilerplate. Tellingly, $XRP actually fell around 2.9% on the day the news broke, dragged down by a broader risk-off sell-off rather than repriced by the license.

That said, there's a longer-term ecosystem argument. The XRP Ledger is the rail Ripple's payment products run on, so deeper institutional adoption of RLUSD and Ripple Payments in Europe means more activity potentially routed through the same infrastructure $XRP secures. The honest framing: this is a genuine win for Ripple's European standing that could translate into token relevance over time — but it is not a direct, mechanical demand catalyst for $XRP.

What's driving the ~8% weekly move then?

Look at the chart and the story becomes clearer. $XRP started July near $1.04 and has since recovered to around $1.15 — a roughly 8-11% weekly gain depending on the data source. This move is largely a market-wide bounce, not a delayed reaction to the two-week-old MiCA news.

A few real tailwinds are supporting the recovery: XRP ETF inflows have now run positive for eight straight weeks, with cumulative net inflows reaching roughly $1.47 billion, and on-chain data shows exchange outflows deepening — a sign holders may be pulling supply off exchanges with intent. July is also historically one of $XRP's stronger seasonal months.

But the resistance overhead is real. The first hurdle sits at the $1.18 area (the 0.382 Fibonacci level), with heavier resistance clustered around $1.20-$1.22 — the zone that has capped every recent bounce inside XRP's year-long falling channel. Below, the $1.05-$1.10 area is the critical support that bulls need to defend. A clean break and hold above $1.20 would be the first genuine signal that the downtrend is cracking.

SpaceXAI's new coding model is cheaper and faster than Anthropic and OpenAI's flagships—and by Musk's own account, at least one generation behind them.

The investment firm said its fourth fund will back AI, robotics, and crypto startups as it broadens beyond digital assets.

Bitcoin is looking slightly more optimistic but failed the breakout everyone was watching. Meanwhile, ETH just printed a weekly death cross for the first time in years.

Investors had backed away from Bitcoin since mid-May.

The meme coin CashCat on Robinhood Chain is the latest flavor of the hour, and one trader has turned a mini-investment into a small fortune in less than three weeks.

Cashcat is drawing comparisons to Shiba Inu as traders race to identify the flagship memecoin of Robinhood Chain, amid a broader crypto market upswing that has renewed interest in speculative assets and meme-driven narratives.

Ripple's historic five-year sports sponsorship with the University of Kansas has drawn fierce criticism from Chainlink community lead Zach Rynes.

Fidelity Investments' Director of Global Macro, Jurrien Timmer, has revealed a dramatic mid-year shakeup in global markets.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse celebrated a "rare moment" where his professional and personal worlds collide.

XRP Ledger clears 1 million automated transactions, confirming a massive surge in AI utility for XRP and RLUSD.

Any honest Shiba Inu price prediction starts from the same fact: SHIB already made its legendary run, and the next one has to move hundreds of trillions of tokens.

So this forecast maps a path instead of promising fireworks, through the burns, Shibarium, the supply math, and the meme cycle. It also covers the other Ethereum meme story this week, a brand new stage one opening Friday on Bullski’s official website, where the free priority list is filling ahead of launch.

SHIB’s Path From Here

SHIB launched on Ethereum in August 2020 and turned a joke into an empire: Shibarium, its own layer 2, a burn portal steadily retiring tokens, listings on most major exchanges, and one of the biggest holder bases in crypto. The project outgrew the meme label years ago, which is exactly what a forecast has to price.

Mature coins move differently. SHIB trades with Bitcoin and the broader meme cycle more than on its own headlines, and the wild percentage days of 2021 have given way to slower, heavier swings. The question is no longer survival, it is how far this base carries the next leg.

Shiba Inu Price Prediction: The Scenarios

Four forces set the path. Burns retire tokens daily, at a pace that trims the supply rather than transforms it. Shibarium adds transactions, and more activity means more burning and more reasons to hold.

Against both stands the big headwind, a circulating supply in the hundreds of trillions, so every rally needs enormous new money just to move the price. The wild card is the meme cycle, which still lifts SHIB hard in risk-on seasons.

Here is how those forces stack into scenarios along SHIB’s path, hedged the way any honest forecast should be.

Watch out: SHIB’s enormous supply means even a strong rally moves the price by fractions of a cent. Size expectations to that math, not to screenshots from 2021.

Shiba Inu Technical Analysis: Levels to Watch

Analysts track three things on the SHIB chart: whether it defends its multi-year range lows, how it behaves around the round-number zero lines that act as psychological support and resistance, and how much air sits under the $0.00008845 all-time high from October 2021. Momentum arrives in bursts with the meme cycle, so the levels matter most when volume suddenly returns.

Why Launch Week Belongs to the New Ethereum Meme

Here is the part of the SHIB story people forget: there was never a SHIB presale. The token simply appeared on Ethereum in 2020, and whoever found it before the crowd caught the entry everyone has hunted since.

That is what makes this week different. Bullski ($BULLSKI) is the new Ethereum meme, an ERC-20 token with a fixed 120 billion supply, and its stage one is still ahead of it. The 16-stage presale climbs toward a $0.0025 listing reference, the contract is verified on Etherscan, an audit is in process, and liquidity locks at launch.

Staking and referrals run from day one, so early buyers earn while the stages fill.

The date is set: stage one opens at 5pm UTC on Friday, July 10. Until then, the free priority list is filling with buyers who want the first entry at the lowest stage price.

In short: SHIB proved an Ethereum meme can build an empire; launch week is about the one still laying its first brick.

SHIB Holders’ Launch-Week Move

None of this says sell your SHIB; the long-hold case above is real. The launch-week move is about the other slot in a meme portfolio, the early-entry slice that SHIB, by its own success, can no longer be.

Reserving that slice takes minutes. Head to the official site and add yourself to the priority list, then have an Ethereum wallet funded with ETH or USDT before Friday evening. When stage one opens, priority members enter ahead of the public rush, buy at the first stage price, and can put their tokens straight into staking while the crowd is still finding the page.

$250 USDT Giveaway: launch week comes with a bonus. Bullski’s “Bullish by Default” draw is sending $250 USDT to one winner, picked at random, no purchase needed. You can get in the Bullski giveaway by joining the Telegram and following on X, with extra entries for inviting a friend. Winners are announced only on the official channels, and the team will never ask for your keys.

Shiba Inu Price Prediction FAQ

What is the Shiba Inu price prediction?

The honest answer is a range. The base case keeps SHIB tracking the meme cycle while burns and Shibarium slowly tighten supply, the bull case works back toward old highs, and the bear case is a longer sideways drift.

Can SHIB break out this cycle?

It can, and it has surprised the market before. A strong meme season, rising Shibarium activity, and a faster burn rate are the ingredients to watch. The caveat is scale: lifting a coin with hundreds of trillions of tokens takes far more new money than it did in 2021.

What is holding SHIB back?

Mostly its own size. With a circulating supply in the hundreds of trillions, even large inflows nudge the price rather than move it, and the easy discovery phase ended years ago. Burns help at the margins, but that math is the headwind every SHIB forecast has to respect.

What launches this week on Bullski?

Stage one of the 16-stage Bullski presale opens this Friday at 5pm UTC. Priority list members enter first, buy $BULLSKI with ETH or USDT at the earliest price, and can stake immediately as the sale climbs toward the $0.0025 listing reference.

For More Information

Website: Visit the official Bullski website at bullski.io

Telegram: Join the Bullski Telegram channel at t.me/BullskiCoinOfficial

X (Twitter): Follow Bullski on X at x.com/bullskicoin

The post Shiba Inu Price Prediction: SHIB’s Path and Why Launch Week Belongs to Bullski’s Priority List appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• Bank of England confirms Farage’s lobbying had zero impact on digital pound strategy.
• Governor Bailey states the institution identified and rejected crypto-related pressure.
• Reform UK leader faces increasing questions about party funding and crypto donor connections.
• Connections to Tether-affiliated donors spark additional concerns about CBDC opposition.
• Central bank maintains digital pound development proceeds independently of political interference.

The Bank of England has confirmed that Nigel Farage’s attempts to sway its digital pound policy through direct lobbying proved unsuccessful. In a statement to Labour MP Joe Powell, Governor Andrew Bailey revealed that the institution successfully identified the lobbying efforts and maintained its independent stance. This disclosure has intensified examination of Farage’s connections to cryptocurrency-affiliated donors and the funding sources for Reform UK.

Central Bank Maintains Policy Independence After Farage Consultation

Bailey’s comments came in response to inquiries regarding a confidential September meeting with Farage at the Bank’s Threadneedle Street headquarters. During this consultation, multiple topics were discussed, including digital asset regulation and the Bank’s exploratory work on a digital pound. Officials confirmed that Farage’s representations resulted in no alterations to existing policy directions.

Farage had specifically pressed Bailey to abandon the central bank digital currency initiative. Speaking at a subsequent cryptocurrency industry gathering, he publicly acknowledged confronting Bailey about the programme. Bailey’s response emphasized the Bank’s capability to recognize advocacy efforts and maintain policy independence.

The controversy has acquired greater political significance following investigations into Farage’s financial backing. Reports suggest he received approximately £5 million from cryptocurrency entrepreneur Christopher Harborne. Harborne maintains business relationships with Tether, a prominent stablecoin operator that has publicly opposed central bank digital currency initiatives.

CBDC Controversy Intensifies Amid Reform UK Financial Questions

The BoE continues its exploratory work on a potential digital pound, though no implementation decision has been finalized. Bank officials emphasize that any progression would necessitate extensive additional research and comprehensive public engagement. Furthermore, both parliamentary approval and government backing would be prerequisites for any deployment.

Farage has consistently positioned himself against central bank digital currencies, characterizing them as potential infringements on individual liberty. He has additionally suggested connections between the digital pound concept and digital identity infrastructure. However, the Bank of England’s official proposals contain no such integration.

Tether representatives have actively campaigned against the Bank’s digital pound research programme. Their position emphasizes concerns that a government-backed digital currency could undermine the market for private stablecoins. These arguments have attracted renewed attention given Harborne’s partial ownership stake in Tether alongside his financial support for Reform UK.

Parliamentary Resignation Amplifies Scrutiny of Cryptocurrency Connections

Farage stepped down from his parliamentary seat this week while maintaining his innocence regarding allegations about financial disclosure requirements. He advocated for a by-election positioned as a referendum on establishment politics. Nevertheless, mainstream political parties announced they would not field candidates in such a contest.

The parliamentary standards investigation now subjects Reform UK to enhanced oversight. Labour parliamentarians have demanded investigations into whether Farage violated regulations governing lobbying activities. Bailey’s correspondence reinforces the Bank’s position that its policy development remained insulated from external political influence.

The Bank of England has also recently revised its regulatory framework for stablecoins following industry consultation. While it removed a proposed ceiling on stablecoin holdings, Bailey explicitly rejected suggestions that Farage influenced this modification. The central bank continues to assert that cryptocurrency policy formulation operates independently of political considerations.

The post Bank of England Confirms Farage’s Crypto Lobbying Had No Impact on CBDC Strategy appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Shares of SMCI advanced 4.67% following the unveiling of edge AI appliances

• Partnership with Red Hat and Everpure aims to streamline edge AI implementations

• The solution integrates Kubernetes, storage infrastructure, and edge computing hardware

• The system leverages Red Hat OpenShift for hybrid cloud AI operations

• Portworx by Everpure delivers Kubernetes-native storage for decentralized AI applications

Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. climbed 4.67% to reach $27.48 as the company strengthened its edge AI capabilities. The stock maintained strong momentum throughout the trading session, closing near its daily peak. The upward movement came after the company unveiled a new Kubernetes Edge AI appliance developed alongside Red Hat and Everpure.

Super Micro Computer, Inc., SMCI

Stock Performance Follows Edge AI Product Unveiling

Supermicro announced pre-validated Kubernetes Edge AI appliances designed for businesses operating computing infrastructure beyond traditional data centers. The integrated solution merges Supermicro’s hardware platform with Red Hat OpenShift and Portworx by Everpure. This combination delivers customers a pre-configured appliance engineered for accelerated implementation.

The product addresses the requirements of organizations deploying AI inference capabilities across geographically dispersed facilities. Target environments encompass retail outlets, manufacturing plants, telecommunications facilities, and isolated business operations. The company’s objective centers on minimizing configuration challenges for distributed infrastructure administrators.

According to the announcement, the appliance accommodates containers, virtual machines, and AI inference processing at remote locations. Customers gain access to an integrated ecosystem encompassing computation, storage, and administrative capabilities. The turnkey solution will be offered through Supermicro’s direct sales channels.

OpenShift Platform Enables Multi-Site Operations

Red Hat OpenShift serves as the foundational Kubernetes application platform within the new infrastructure. This platform enables organizations to deploy and oversee workloads spanning hybrid cloud architectures and edge environments. Through this integration, Supermicro delivers a standardized operational framework across diverse geographic deployments.

The company characterizes the offering as a fully validated, comprehensive solution. This methodology eliminates the requirement for independent validation across hardware components, software platforms, and storage infrastructure. The approach also accelerates deployment timelines for organizations with constrained on-premises technical resources.

This collaboration reinforces Supermicro’s position within the edge computing infrastructure market. The organization currently provides compact server platforms and edge devices across multiple configuration options. Its product lineup accommodates implementations ranging from standalone servers to comprehensive rack-mounted systems.

Everpure Integration Delivers Distributed Storage Capabilities

Portworx by Everpure contributes the Kubernetes-native storage and data orchestration component. This platform consolidates local storage resources on Supermicro edge computing platforms. Organizations can therefore operate fault-tolerant infrastructures without deploying conventional storage arrays at individual locations.

The storage architecture provides high availability, data safeguarding, and autonomous functionality during connectivity interruptions. This capability proves essential for remote installations that cannot rely on continuous centralized network access. Additionally, it enables organizations to implement uniform storage governance across edge and cloud environments.

Supermicro’s Data Center Building Block Solutions approach underpins this product introduction. This methodology employs validated building blocks to construct flexible infrastructure tailored to diverse customer requirements. The Red Hat and Everpure collaboration represents another strategic advancement in the company’s edge AI expansion efforts.

The post Super Micro Computer (SMCI) Stock Climbs on Red Hat Partnership for Edge AI Solutions appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• The XRP Ledger AI Hub has launched as a new discovery point for AI builders, agents, services, merchants, and x402 payment activity on XRPL.
• The XRP Ledger has surpassed 1 million agentic payments, showing rising machine-driven settlement activity across AI-linked services.
• XRP price remains under pressure near $1.06, with sellers still controlling momentum below major daily moving averages.
• Weak ETF flows, lower active addresses, and declining futures interest show that market demand has not matched the network milestone yet.

The XRP Ledger AI Hub has gone live as XRPL records a major milestone in AI-linked blockchain payments. t54.ai announced the platform as a single destination for AI agents, developer tools, payment services, and merchants building on the network.

The launch comes as the XRP Ledger Foundation says XRPL has surpassed 1 million agentic payments through the x402 protocol. The milestone adds a fresh utility narrative for XRP and RLUSD, although XRP price action remains weak near $1.06.

XRP is trading below $1.10 after four straight days of losses. Muted ETF flows, weaker active addresses, and lower futures demand continue to weigh on near-term sentiment.

XRP Ledger AI Hub Opens New Door For AI Builders

The XRP Ledger AI Hub is designed to help developers track what is already live across the XRPL AI ecosystem. It starts with three core areas covering x402 activity, developer resources, and a directory of AI projects.

The index section tracks live x402 payment activity on the network. The developer section includes docs, SDKs, repositories, and other resources. Meanwhile, the directory highlights AI projects, agents, services, and merchants using XRPL rails.

The launch follows Ripple’s XRP Ledger AI Starter Kit, which introduced tools for agentic payments. The kit supports x402 payments using XRP and RLUSD, allowing AI agents to pay for APIs, compute, and inference services.

That structure matters as AI agents need fast, low-cost, and predictable settlement. XRPL offers short settlement times and fixed-style transaction costs, which can help software agents operate without manual approval loops.

The latest activity also points to deeper merchant adoption. Reports show 121 active merchants are now recorded, with Heurist Mesh, LucyOS, and AskSurf accounting for much of the transaction volume.

XRP Price Stays Weak Despite Agentic Payments Milestone

Nevertheless, the XRP Ledger AI Hub launch has not changed the short-term XRP price trend. XRP remains below key moving averages, keeping the market structure under pressure.

The 50-day EMA sits near $1.18, while the 100-day EMA is around $1.28. The 200-day EMA near $1.49 remains a wider resistance zone for any stronger recovery attempt.

On the downside, traders are watching support near $1.05 and $1.02. A break below this range could expose XRP to another wave of selling, especially if broader crypto sentiment weakens.

On-chain activity also shows caution. Active addresses recently dropped to about 14,500 from nearly 31,000 a day earlier, after peaking near 43,000 on June 30.

ETF activity has also slowed, with no recorded spot XRP ETF flows on Monday and Tuesday. Cumulative inflows still stand near $1.49 billion, but fresh demand remains limited.

Futures data adds to the softer picture. Open interest has slipped from late-June levels, showing weaker speculative appetite as XRP struggles below resistance.

The split between network utility and price action is now central to XRP’s next move. Agentic payments may support a longer-term XRPL adoption story, but traders still need a stronger price reaction above $1.18.

The post XRP Ledger AI Hub Launches As Agentic Payments Top 1M Mark appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• European regulators initiate coordinated custody audits following MiCA’s full activation.
• Crypto service providers undergo scrutiny on client asset safeguarding mechanisms.
• Examination covers private key management, governance structures, and transaction oversight.
• MiCA framework transitions from registration phase to active compliance verification.
• Comprehensive findings expected by 2027 to identify custody vulnerabilities across member states.

European securities regulators have initiated a comprehensive custody examination targeting crypto firms operating under the new MiCA regulatory framework. The investigation evaluates how licensed providers safeguard customer holdings and address operational vulnerabilities. This coordinated effort aims to establish uniform protection standards throughout the European Union.

Pan-European Custody Investigation Underway

ESMA activated the joint examination on July 8, collaborating with financial regulators across all member nations. The investigation zeroes in on licensed crypto-asset service providers offering custody functions. This initiative follows MiCA’s transition deadline that concluded on July 1.

National supervisory bodies will identify firms using risk-weighted selection criteria. Oversight will concentrate on entities handling substantial operational volumes and significant customer asset exposures. Not all registered platforms will undergo examination.

ESMA directs regulators to evaluate the robustness of digital operational resilience protocols. The examination encompasses corporate governance, asset storage infrastructure, transaction authorization procedures, and emergency response capabilities. Authorities will verify whether firms maintain custody operations with transparent internal oversight structures.

Asset Protection Mechanisms Under Examination

The investigation prioritizes private key management and storage methodologies as central supervisory concerns. Custody providers maintain access authority over client cryptocurrency holdings, meaning inadequate security systems can trigger immediate financial losses. ESMA will determine whether firms implement robust safeguards surrounding these critical functions.

Regulators will additionally scrutinize transaction approval workflows and security breach detection capabilities. These elements prove essential because custody breakdowns can rapidly cascade across platforms and service networks. Consequently, authorities expect firms to demonstrate comprehensive risk mitigation frameworks.

The examination will investigate external service dependencies and smart contract vulnerabilities. Numerous crypto platforms depend on third-party technology suppliers and infrastructure networks. ESMA directs national authorities to uncover weaknesses before system failures impact customers.

Regulatory Enforcement Reaches Operational Phase

MiCA establishes the European Union’s unified regulatory framework for crypto service platforms. Nevertheless, individual member-state authorities maintain primary supervisory responsibilities. ESMA will leverage this investigation to harmonize divergent national oversight methodologies.

The examination launches as the EU’s authorized crypto provider registry expands continuously. Recent licensing approvals have incorporated additional exchanges, custodians, and service platforms into the regulated ecosystem. This growth intensifies demands on supervisors to validate real-world compliance performance.

ESMA anticipates the investigation will continue through mid-2027. Following completion, the regulator will compile unified conclusions for its Board of Supervisors. The comprehensive report will provide European authorities with detailed intelligence on custody vulnerabilities under MiCA’s operational framework.

The post ESMA Launches Custody Audits for EU Crypto Platforms Following MiCA Implementation appeared first on Blockonomi.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched its 2026 Regulatory Agenda.

Meant to ease compliance rules for crypto companies and offer regulatory safeguards for transactions on the blockchain, the agenda includes 38 proposed rules, with key initiatives focusing on tokenization standards, modernization of custody for on-chain assets, and reduction of compliance costs for public companies.

SEC Reveals its Crypto Plan for 2026

The regulator is considering a change to its rules that would expand the definition of “qualified custodian” to give firms managing tokenized assets a clearer set of rules. It also includes a safe-harbor framework for early-stage crypto projects that would give developers a defined period to build and test tokenized products under lighter compliance obligations.

The SEC is reviewing broker-dealer financial responsibility and record-keeping requirements for digital assets, and making changes that will impact how they protect their clients’ crypto, to replace traditional securities standards with ones better suited for crypto.

The agency also proposes Crypto Market Structure Amendments to revise the rules governing the trading of cryptocurrencies on alternative trading systems.

The agenda also suggests lowering costs for companies looking to go public by updating disclosure forms and modifying the eligibility for simplified registration, which the SEC thinks could spur more domestic IPOs.

Atkins Backs US Crypto Push

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the regulator has made a lot of progress more than a year into his tenure, noting that it aims to support President Trump’s goal of making America the crypto capital of the world.

“We are embracing innovation to bring more products onshore, creating clear rules of the road for capital raising with crypto assets, and providing clarity as to how market participants can custody and facilitate trading of tokenized securities on-chain,” he wrote.

Atkins also stressed that investor protection measures will still be functional as the agency continues to pursue securities law violations, but said the main goal is to give businesses confidence to innovate in the U.S. market.

The proposals are yet to be approved and will now go through the public comment phase this month, with final rules expected to be considered later this year.

Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act missed the July 4 signing target after passing the House in 2025 and clearing the Senate in May, and the bill is now waiting for a full Senate floor vote, with lawmakers having a limited amount of time before the August recess to finish work on the crypto market structure bill.

The post SEC’s 2026 Agenda Has 38 Items, But Crypto and IPOs Are the Headliners appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Charles Hoskinson has accused Ethereum of adopting ideas pioneered by Cardano without acknowledgment.

The Cardano co-founder made the claim following a proposal by Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter to bring native UTXOs to the network as a way of cutting long-term state storage for payment transactions.

Ethereum Is Revisiting Cardano’s Work

According to Hoskinson, Wahrstätter’s research closely mirrors concepts Cardano has been developing since its launch.

“It’s literally a crime in the Ethereum inner circle to mention Cardano,” he wrote on X. “EUTXO is the biggest innovation of the smart contract world and Ethereum cannot mention it as they literally try to copy it.”

Wahrstätter’s proposal describes a payment model that stores only a small “spent” marker in Ethereum’s state while keeping the rest of the payment data in blockchain history. According to the research, this approach could reduce the permanent state required for payment workloads by as much as 99.8% without abandoning Ethereum’s account-based architecture.

The proposal borrows the one-time payment structure used by Bitcoin’s UTXO model while allowing Ethereum accounts and smart contracts to keep on operating. It also relies on the proposed EIP-8141 transaction framework to let users spend UTXOs without first holding ETH for gas fees.

Hoskinson followed up his post on X with a livestream on the same platform, where he read a tweet by Wahrstätter announcing the proposal and pointed out that it made no reference to Cardano despite his network spending years solving many of the engineering problems that Ethereum is now exploring.

“For ten years, we’ve worked on extended UTXO, smart contracts on UTXO,” he said. “We wrote a paper called Chimeric Ledgers to show how to run these two systems in parallel.”

He argued that Ethereum developers had in the past dismissed UTXO-based smart contracts as impractical before now putting similar ideas on their long-term roadmap.

Long-Running Rivalry Returns to the Spotlight

During the livestream, Hoskinson expanded his criticism beyond Wahrstätter’s proposal, claiming that Ethereum has been regularly adopting ideas after dismissing them when they first appeared on Cardano.

Some of the areas he claimed such behavior had happened in included Cardano’s governance system and treasury model, which he said the Ethereum Foundation had been forced to drift toward after losing staff and money.

He also suggested that Ethereum would look to revisit Cardano’s work on privacy and post-quantum cryptography through IOHK’s privacy-focused blockchain project, Midnight, as well as its early embrace of formal verification tools like Lean. According to him, Ethereum will eventually adopt both without acknowledgment as well.

This is not the first time Hoskinson has used a livestream to vent about how he or Cardano is being treated. In June, he announced plans to move the Cardano community away from X and onto Discord, saying the social platform had become dominated by hostility and personal attacks. However, he said that he would keep using X for livestream broadcasts, the exact same format he used today to make his case against Ethereum.

The post Charles Hoskinson Says Ethereum Is Adopting Cardano Ideas Without Credit appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin maximalist Justin Bechler has warned that the failure of BIP-110 would leave BTC permanently under the control of what he called a “fiat funding apparatus.”

He also argued that the network would lose its role as permissionless, censorship-resistant money.

BIP-110 Is Bitcoin’s “Line in the Sand”

With debate over the proposed soft fork continuing to divide members of the Bitcoin community, Bechler took to X, writing a lengthy post titled “My Plan for the Death of Bitcoin,” where he framed BIP-110 as a direct response to what he called catastrophic spam abuse that BTC’s network has suffered since February 2023, worsened after Core v.30 removed limits on OP-RETURN data.

According to him, Bitcoin’s defining feature is that anyone can run a node to use it as censorship-resistant money. Furthermore, Bechler claimed organizations such as Brink, Chaincode Labs, Spiral, OpenSats, and the Human Rights Frontier are reshaping the future of Bitcoin Core by “waging war against nodes.” As such, he claimed BIP-110 is necessary to protect that principle from growing centralization, and if it failed, it would embolden Core developers to strip away all the remaining restrictions until “nobody runs a node but Wall Street and government institutions.”

“If BIP-110 fails,” he wrote, “Bitcoin will have failed at its singular purpose and it will have been repurposed for non-monetary ‘use cases.'”

The BTC enthusiast also predicted that miners will, in the end, support the proposal because signaling costs them nothing, while rejecting it risks losing block rewards from enforcing nodes.

But despite saying that he would stop running a Bitcoin node and refuse to support a fork were the measure to fail, Bechler insisted that he was still optimistic about the OG crypto network’s future. “Bitcoin will win,” he wrote, adding that BIP-110 had already surpassed the signaling level reached by BIP-148 the day before its activation.

Community Still Divided Over the Proposal

The latest dispute comes on the heels of earlier criticism in late June, when opponents claimed that BIP-110 could make some wallet-generated addresses unspendable once it was activated. And as is expected of such emotive subjects, Bechler’s latest warning also drew mixed reactions across the Bitcoin community.

One of them, BTC Inc’s Brandon, dismissed the post as “the type of rage quit that will form a generational bottom,” while another, podcast host Stephen Livera, argued that supporters of an alternative chain would ultimately create an altcoin separate from “the real Bitcoin.”

In another post, Livera shared comments from BTC developer Gregory Maxwell, who accused some of the advocates for BIP-110 of framing the proposal as an anti-spam measure while denying that same motivation when challenged.

Meanwhile, Chainstone Labs CEO Bruce Fenton took a different position, saying he was not deeply invested in the technical details but also suggesting that the larger risk for Bitcoin comes from increasing centralization and financialization and not the proposal itself.

Others, while remaining supportive of BIP-110, adopted a less absolute stance than Bechler. For instance, CoinCube founder Robert Allen said if the proposal failed, he wouldn’t abandon Bitcoin, although he would become more cautious and would also push for wider support for non-Core implementations such as Bitcoin Knots.

The post Bitcoin Maxi Warns BIP-110 Failure Could Mean the End of Permissionless Money appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The bear cycle is heavily affecting altcoins as expected. With bitcoin (BTC) struggling to remain above $60,000, this group of cryptocurrencies is having it worse.

A report from the market analysis platform CryptoQuant revealed that about 40% of altcoins are currently trading around their all-time low (ATL). This dynamic reflects an extreme level of underperformance among most projects.

Altcoins in Extreme Underperformance

According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, the extreme underperformance of altcoins reflects the harsh reality facing projects that chose to launch tokens. The analyst said he initially built the Percentage of Altcoins Near ATL chart to visualize coins trading below 25% of their all-time low, only to see that at least 40% of these assets are trading near their respective bottoms.

As the bear season progresses and BTC declines further, altcoins’ performance worsens. In fact, when BTC fell below $60,000 last month, the percentage of altcoins near their ATL climbed to 45%.

One of the major drivers of this underperformance is the low liquidity despite thousands of coins being created and added to the market daily. CoinMarketCap data shows that there are 53.5 million cryptocurrencies currently existing, with 60,000 new ones added every day. Unfortunately, the majority of these assets are doomed to fail because of the state of the market and a growing lack of liquidity.

“Without strong incoming liquidity, it’s easy to see why the majority of these cryptos are doomed to fail,” the analyst explained.

No Liquidity Inflow

Darkfost says it is now essential for investors to be highly selective of the projects they choose to be exposed to. This is because the crypto market has changed, and only a few projects will survive the bear phase and stay afloat.

The analyst’s comments echo similar remarks CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju made in early December 2024 during the last bull cycle. At the time, the altcoin market sentiment was good, and multiple coins were skyrocketing to multi-year highs. Ju believed the altseason would not play out as investors expected because the sector was not seeing a notable inflow of fresh liquidity.

As Ju predicted, only a few assets recorded significant gains during that period and the bull phase as a whole; the lack of liquidity hampered the growth of other assets. Apparently, the low liquidity has intensified in this bear season, and most altcoins are performing even more poorly.

The post Altcoin Market Reaches Extreme Underperformance, 40% of Coins Trade Near Their ATL appeared first on CryptoPotato.

XRP remains under pressure across both the USDT and BTC pairs, with sellers continuing to control the broader trend despite several short-lived recovery attempts. While the USDT chart shows buyers defending an important support area, the XRP/BTC pair continues to trade near multi-month lows, highlighting the token’s persistent relative weakness against the market leader.

Ripple Price Analysis: The USDT Pair

On the daily timeframe, XRP continues to trade inside a well-defined descending channel, keeping the broader market structure firmly bearish. It remains below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, both of which are sloping lower and acting as dynamic resistance above $1.25. This alignment suggests that momentum still favors sellers unless a meaningful trend reversal develops.

After losing the $1.25 level in early June, XRP found demand around the critical $1 region, where buyers have repeatedly stepped in to prevent further downside. This zone has now become the most important support to monitor. As long as it holds, the market could continue forming a short-term base.

On the upside, the first major resistance sits around $1.25. As mentioned earlier, this area also coincides with the descending 100-day moving average and the higher boundary of the channel, making it a significant hurdle for any sustained recovery. A successful breakout above this region would expose the 200-day moving average around $1.45, while losing the $1 support could accelerate another leg lower toward the channel’s lower trendline around $0.80.

Meanwhile, the RSI has been making higher lows despite the price making lower lows near $1, creating a developing bullish divergence. Although this does not confirm a reversal on its own, it suggests that bearish momentum might be exhausted and that buyers could attempt another recovery if resistance levels begin to weaken.

The BTC Pair

Against Bitcoin, XRP continues to paint a weaker technical picture. Again, the pair remains below both major moving averages, which continue to trend lower and reinforce the long-term bearish structure.

After several weeks of sideways trading, XRPBTC is once again testing the key horizontal support around 1,700 sats. This level has acted as the floor for the recent consolidation, and another breakdown attempt is now underway. A confirmed daily close below 1,700 sats would likely invalidate the current range and increase the probability of an extension toward the next major demand zone around 1,450 to 1,500 sats.

To regain bullish momentum, buyers first need to reclaim the 1,850 sats resistance area, which also aligns closely with the declining 100-day moving average. Until then, every rally continues to appear corrective within the broader downtrend, which could lead to more depreciation for XRP against Bitcoin.

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