Stacks PoX-5 public testnet launches Bitcoin staking with self-custody, targeting a mainnet hard fork around July 29 with 3,000 BTC cap and 3%

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BitMEX will shut down by September 23, 2026, ending an 11-year run. The crypto derivatives pioneer's volume fell below 0.01% of the market.

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Trump hasn't spoken to Saudi Crown Prince MBS since a recent post. U.S.-Iran diplomatic meeting by July 31 at 5.5% YES.

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Fidelity Investments purchased $21 million in Bitcoin, continuing its institutional crypto accumulation strategy alongside its FBTC ETF and

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Spark joins Arkis governance board requiring multisig approval for smart contract deployments, adding institutional-grade oversight to on-chain

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Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

Banks split over stablecoin yield

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Clarity Act still faces an uphill battle

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

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

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

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

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

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gameplan

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

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

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

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

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

The quantum “threat”

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

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

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

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kazakhstan as a bitcoin mining hub

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

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

Other crypto tasked 

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

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

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

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

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

Bitcoin Magazine

Crypto Derivatives Exchange BitMEX To Shut Down in September

Crypto exchange BitMEX will close down in September, according to a Thursday announcement on the company’s website. 

The exchange said that after “a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry, the board of HDR Global Trading Limited, owner and operator of BitMEX, has decided to close the exchange.” 

BitMEX did not give further information on why the exchange was closing but told users to withdraw their funds “as soon as practical.” 

“The BitMEX platform has always remained grounded to the true ethos of Bitcoin — neutrality, transparency, and decentralisation, which is evident through our peer-to-peer operations and a top priority focus on user fund safety,” the statement read. 

“While this news is a difficult one to share, we are proud of everything that has been built at the company since its launch as a pioneer of crypto derivatives.”

BitMEX added that users will be able to access services as normal until September 23. After that date, the exchange will only hold client assets until they are withdrawn. 

It continued that it had unstaked all staked BMEX Tokens on the platform, and they are now available in users’ accounts.

Run-ins with the law

Run by eccentric crypto entrepreneur Arthur Hayes, BitMEX has had its fair share of run-ins with the law. 

Regulators first stated that BitMEX had allowed U.S. clients to use its exchange without verifying their identities.

The company in 2021 paid $100 million in civil penalties after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that the exchange’s senior leadership “altered U.S. customer information to hide the customer’s true location.”

BitMEX founders Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed pled guilty in 2022 to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to operate an anti-money laundering program at the cryptocurrency exchange. Each founder then agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle the charges. 

Then, last year, BitMEX was hit with a further $100 million fine for its guilty plea for breach of the United States Bank Secrecy Act. 

But following the election of crypto-friendly President Donald Trump, all three founders were pardoned in 2025.

This post Crypto Derivatives Exchange BitMEX To Shut Down in September first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy Among Nine Firms Launching the Bitcoin Security Consortium, Pledging $15 Million To BTC Security Development

Nine of the largest names in institutional Bitcoin launched the Bitcoin Security Consortium on Thursday, a group backed by $15 million in member pledges over three years to fund work on the network’s long-term security, including preparation for a future era of quantum computing.

Founding members are Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, and Strategy, a lineup that spans holders, custodians, exchanges, infrastructure and payments providers, and asset managers. 

The consortium’s day-to-day work falls to Mike Schmidt, executive director of the developer non-profit Brink, who serves in a volunteer role.

Schmidt tweeted about the role, saying, “I said yes because supporting Bitcoin’s developers and helping people understand their work are the two things I’ve spent my time in Bitcoin on, through Brink and Optech. This group wants to do both: fund the people already securing Bitcoin, and bring accurate information about that work to audiences it doesn’t currently reach.”

Each member directs its own funding to the developers, researchers, and organizations it chooses; the $15 million figure is an aggregate of independent pledges rather than a pooled fund. The group also plans to serve as a reference point on Bitcoin’s security for investors, the public, and the media, and to publish material it will update as the field develops.

Funding advocates

The consortium drew clear limits around its role. It says it does not develop or direct Bitcoin’s protocol, takes no position on specific protocol changes, and does not speak for Bitcoin or its developers.

It casts itself on the model of industry groups that fund the open-source software they rely on without controlling the work. 

“Bitcoin’s development is, and will remain, the work of a global, decentralized community of contributors,” the group said.

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

Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s Global Head of Digital Assets, said Bitcoin Core developers “do incredibly important work,” and that the members would make “significant additional funding available to support Bitcoin’s long-term security needs.”

Brink, the non-profit coordinating the effort, has funded open-source Bitcoin work since 2020, including more than $1 million to developers in a single year and the first third-party security audit of Bitcoin Core. Schmidt co-founded the group with developer John Newbery.

Bitcoin and quantum 

Much of the consortium’s stated focus lands on the quantum question. Large-scale quantum computers able to break BTC’s cryptography do not exist today, and credible estimates place such capability years out. 

The group frames post-quantum protection as a long-term priority the technical community already works on, and positions itself as a grounded source as that work moves.

That framing matches a wider institutional turn toward the issue. Coinbase has formed a quantum computing advisory board, Galaxy launched its own quantum readiness initiative with developer grants days before, and BlackRock has listed quantum computing as a risk in its spot BTC ETF filings. 

Developers, for their part, have proposed migration plans built on schemes such as BIP-360 that would move coins to quantum-resistant addresses, and the Bitcoin Policy Institute has warned the timeline is compressing.

Views on urgency diverge, a split the consortium’s members embody. Adam Back, founder of member firm Blockstream, has called the quantum threat decades away, while other voices place a capable machine within the next several years. 

The stakes are large either way, since Coinbase research has estimated that between 20% and 50% of BTC’s supply, much of it in older wallet formats, could face exposure to a long-range quantum attack. 

The consortium sidesteps the timeline debate and stakes its role on funding and information rather than a forecast. Its own summary holds that the risk is real, yet the network is preparing.

This post BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy Among Nine Firms Launching the Bitcoin Security Consortium, Pledging $15 Million To BTC Security Development first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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

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

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

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

How crypto vaults and onchain lending could fall under securities law

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Onchain yield pushes deeper into mainstream finance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The White House pushed back against the Senate Democrats' rejection of the latest version of the CLARITY Act, with ethics remaining a major sticking point.

The clash comes despite President Donald Trump’s decision this week to accept new ethics limits, reflecting how far apart negotiators remain as lawmakers try to advance sweeping crypto market legislation.

On July 22, Senate Republicans submitted revised CLARITY Act legislation to bar the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges and other covered officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for compensation while in office.

These officials would be required to sell certain crypto holdings, place them in blind trusts they do not control, or use a combination of both approaches. Crypto sales exceeding $1,000 would also trigger disclosure requirements.

The proposal would also give the Justice Department civil enforcement authority over violations, including cases involving exchanges that knowingly list prohibited digital assets.

Key Senate Democrats reject latest CLARITY draft

The revised ethics provisions have failed to win over several Senate Democrats whose votes Republicans may need to pass the CLARITY Act.

Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock said the latest Republican draft still falls short on ethics, illicit finance, conflicts of interest and other unresolved issues.

Their opposition carries particular weight because several have previously supported efforts to establish a federal framework for digital assets.

Alsobrooks and Gallego joined Republicans when the Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in a 15-9 vote in May, although both warned that their committee support did not guarantee backing on the Senate floor.

Alsobrooks said at the time that ethics and other provisions still required further negotiations. Booker, Cortez Masto, Hickenlooper, Warner and Warnock have also participated in Democratic efforts to craft cryptocurrency legislation.

The seven senators have not abandoned negotiations, but their rejection of the current draft creates an immediate vote-count problem for Republicans.

The GOP holds 53 Senate seats and would need at least seven Democrats to reach the 60 votes required to overcome a procedural hurdle, assuming every Republican supports the bill.

That assumption is also uncertain. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has said additional ethics changes are necessary to secure his support, while Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana has raised concerns about other provisions, including stablecoin rewards.

Democratic criticism has focused heavily on whether the revised ethics language would meaningfully restrict Trump’s existing cryptocurrency businesses.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said the proposal would fail to prevent Trump from earning another $1.4 billion from crypto. She said:

Warren has repeatedly argued that Congress should not create a new regulatory framework for digital assets while allowing senior government officials to continue profiting from businesses affected by those rules.

Amanda Fischer, who works on financial policy at Better Markets, similarly argued that the draft could leave several revenue streams tied to existing Trump-linked ventures untouched.

Fischer said the proposal does not clearly prohibit income from trading fees or reserve assets connected to existing businesses and criticized its compliance timetable, lack of state or private enforcement and exclusion of officials’ children.

She also questioned provisions requiring certain violations to be committed “knowingly and willfully” before the Justice Department could pursue civil penalties, arguing that the standard could make enforcement more difficult.

Those concerns have strengthened the Democratic case that the revised ethics package remains too narrow, leaving Republicans without the bipartisan support they currently need to move CLARITY through the Senate.

White House pushes back on Democratic objections

The White House has rejected two of the objections now threatening Democratic support for the revised CLARITY Act.

Patrick Witt, a senior White House crypto adviser, said the dispute has narrowed around whether state attorneys general should be allowed to enforce the ethics provisions and whether the legislation should address President Donald Trump’s past cryptocurrency activity.

In a July 22 post on X, Witt argued that denying state attorneys general enforcement authority would be consistent with existing federal ethics laws.

He said:

“If you hold position (1), then you are basically saying that ALL current federal ethics laws are meaningless because none of them are enforceable by state AGs.”

He also pushed back against demands for stronger restrictions targeting Trump’s previous crypto activity, setting up a separate dispute over how far Congress can go in addressing conduct that predates the legislation.

Crypto industry warns ethics fight could sink broader reform

The ensuing back-and-forth between Democrats and the White House has prompted crypto industry leaders to warn that the ethics dispute could derail the wider regulatory framework.

Miles Jennings, general counsel at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division, argued that lawmakers risk losing proposed rules for exchanges, intermediaries, illicit finance and other parts of the digital-asset market if negotiations collapse over the ethics provisions.

His argument is that rejecting the CLARITY Act because the restrictions do not go far enough would also leave the industry operating under the existing regulatory structure.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad similarly urged lawmakers to accept that major legislation requires compromise, saying the industry did not receive everything it sought from the proposal.

He nevertheless described the broader framework as an important step toward bringing digital assets under clearer federal oversight.

Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty also defended the legislation, pointing to provisions covering anti-money-laundering requirements, law-enforcement authorities and consumer protections.

He said:

“Perfect can't be the enemy of good.”

However, Democrats involved in the negotiations reject the suggestion that opposing the current draft amounts to preserving the status quo.

Their position is that lawmakers still have time to strengthen the bill before establishing a regulatory framework that could be difficult to revisit once enacted.

That divide leaves the CLARITY Act caught between two competing calculations: whether lawmakers should accept an imperfect compromise now or hold out for stronger ethics protections, risking delays to the broader crypto framework.

The post White House pushes back as key Democrats rejects CLARITY Act’s crypto ethics appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Active use of tokenized real-world assets in DeFi has returned to about $3.77 billion, close to the level visible before an April 18 exploit triggered a $13 billion decline across DeFi as a whole in 48 hours.

DefiLlama's tracking puts that recovery at roughly 95 days from the shock to July 22.

The failure consisted of a compromised verification setup that let attackers forge a cross-chain message and release roughly 116,500 unbacked rsETH, worth about $292 million, through KelpDAO's LayerZero multichain infrastructure.

Aave accepted the token as collateral, the attacker borrowed against it, and the resulting run pulled $8.45 billion out of Aave within two days, spreading to lending markets with little or no exposure to rsETH.

Posting a tokenized fund as collateral on Aave, Morpho, or Kamino allows the token to back a loan, supply a vault, or move through a cross-chain strategy, turning a static balance into working capital.

Dune's own framing describes this as a flywheel: each integration makes an asset more useful, more use draws in capital, and new capital funds further integration. Maple's syrupUSDC and syrupUSDT are good examples, now deployed across Ethereum, Solana, Monad, Base, Arbitrum, and Plasma.

DefiLlama tracks roughly $51.9 billion in total tokenized RWA value, and only about 7% of it sits inside the active DeFi figure quoted above.

The chains behind the recovery

Ethereum still anchors the recovered market, holding about $1.98 billion, or 53% of the active total. Its balance spreads across syrupUSDC at roughly $415 million, syrupUSDT at about $323 million, gold-backed XAUT near $235 million, reUSD at $157 million, PRIME at $155 million, JAAA at $152 million, and USTB at $134 million.

Roughly 47% of active value now sits outside Ethereum. Even after setting aside Provenance's unusual $212 million blockchain-native equity position, that non-Ethereum share still runs close to 42%.

Solana holds the most varied non-Ethereum market, with about $464 million active. Reinsurance token ONyc accounts for $166 million, private-credit token PRIME for $144 million, and syrupUSDC for $79 million, alongside tokenized equities such as SPYx, TSLAx, NVDAx, and QQQx serving as collateral through Kamino.

Monad has emerged as a new deployment center, holding about $337 million. Nearly all of it sits in three products: syrupUSDC at $174 million, VUSD private credit at $110 million, and aHYPER's delta-neutral fund exposure at $46 million.

Avalanche shows how a single institutional allocation can activate a chain: its $261 million in active RWA value comes almost entirely from JAAA, the Janus Henderson CLO fund, deployed through Grove Finance.

Plasma tells a similar concentration story, with about $211 million active and $206 million of that in Maple's syrupUSDT alone.

Private credit is the largest active category, led by Maple's two credit tokens alone, which hold about $1.3 billion across every chain that lists them. JAAA adds roughly $412 million in CLO exposure, reinsurance token ONyc and Ethereum's reUSD together carry over $330 million, and gold-backed XAUT contributes about $235 million.

Tokenized Treasury and money market funds lag behind that pace, with USTB holding about $137 million active and WTGXX about $67 million.

Dune's April breakdown noted credit made up only 17% of tokenized asset value at the time, and accounted for roughly 80% of DeFi deposits, because higher-yielding collateral supports borrowing and looping strategies that low-yield assets cannot match as easily.

A market can post $3.77 billion in active total value locked (TVL) and still stay thin, concentrated, or hard to exit in a stress event, the exact profile that let one compromised bridge drain markets with no direct exposure to it in April.

LayerZero has since said its verification network will no longer sign as the sole required attestor on any channel, and Aave's governance coordinated with partners across the market to restore rsETH backing and cover the resulting bad debt.

Those steps close the specific gap the April exploit exposed. Whether the rest of the recovered market's bridges, wrappers, and collateral lists price cross-chain risk with the same rigor stays unresolved.

The next stress test

In the bull case, lending markets keep tightening collateral standards, RWA issuers spread deployments across more chains and asset types, and active TVL pushes past $4 billion as credit, reinsurance, and equity collateral all expand together.

In the bear case, another bridge or collateral-onboarding failure forces protocols to cut supply caps or freeze markets, and active RWA value pulls back toward $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion as capital retreats from aggressive composability strategies.

The market's composition, how spread out, how liquid, and how carefully underwritten the new $3.77 billion turns out to be, will decide whether the resilience shown in the fast recovery holds the next time a bridge or collateral list fails.

The post Latest $3.8 billion RWA recovery shows how quickly DeFi absorbed the KelpDAO shock appeared first on CryptoSlate.

XRP’s recovery above $1.16 this week has coincided with a shift in the token’s supply picture, as large holders move fewer coins onto exchanges while US-listed exchange-traded funds continue to attract fresh capital.

The retreat in exchange-bound supply follows weeks of consolidation around $1, when weaker prices and limited spot demand kept XRP from sustaining repeated recovery attempts.

The change has eased one source of pressure but has yet to produce a decisive breakout. As of press time, XRP had surrendered part of Tuesday’s advance and was trading near $1.14, leaving the next stage of the recovery dependent on whether ETF demand and broader spot buying can absorb the remaining available supply.

XRP whales accumulate while exchange deposits plunge

XRP’s largest holders are adding to their positions while taking a growing share of tokens leaving exchanges, a combination that points to stronger conviction among whales as the cryptocurrency attempts to recover from its recent downturn.

Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million XRP increased their collective balances by 2.8% over the past five weeks, Santiment data show. At the other end of the market, wallets containing less than 0.01 XRP reduced their holdings by 5.2% during the same period.

The accumulation has coincided with a sharp change in how large holders are interacting with centralized exchanges.

Whales accounted for a record 77.8% of XRP outflows across centralized exchanges on July 22, up from 63% on May 6, CryptoQuant data show. Retail investors’ share fell to 22% from 36% over the same period, widening the gap between the two groups to nearly 56%.

A similar pattern is visible on Binance. Large holders represented 71% of XRP withdrawals on July 22, compared with 67% in early May, while retail’s share slipped to 28.7% from 32%.

The higher whale share across the broader centralized exchange market suggests the movement is not confined to Binance.

While the data do not reveal where the withdrawn XRP ultimately went, the increase in large-wallet balances provides separate evidence that whales have been accumulating during the same period.

At the same time, those holders are sending far less XRP onto Binance, reducing the amount being positioned on the exchange for potential trading.

Whale deposits to Binance have collapsed 96% to 25.3 million XRP from a previous peak of 583 million. The earlier inflow was worth roughly $1.36 billion at the time, compared with about $23 million for the latest reading.

The decline extends beyond a single trading session. The 90-day average value of whale inflows to Binance has fallen to about $69 million from $460 million in January 2025, while the latest daily reading is the lowest since that month.

Taken together, the data show whales increasing their XRP holdings and accounting for a greater share of tokens leaving exchanges while sending considerably less XRP onto Binance.

That behavior is consistent with large holders becoming less inclined to position their XRP for near-term trading as they increase their exposure to the token.

ETF inflows add demand as whale deposits fall

The decline in whale deposits is becoming more significant as XRP ETFs continue to bring fresh capital into the market.

US spot XRP funds have attracted about $12 million so far in July, putting them on course for a fourth consecutive month of net inflows. The products drew $81.59 million in April, $131.94 million in May and $59.46 million in June, bringing inflows over the four-month stretch to about $285 million.

Cumulative net inflows into the four funds have reached about $1.49 billion since their launch, while total assets have risen to roughly $1.06 billion.

The monthly totals remain modest compared with the flows routinely recorded by Bitcoin funds. Their persistence, however, gives XRP a recurring source of demand at a time when large holders are accumulating the token and sending substantially less of it onto Binance.

ETF subscriptions can require fund providers and their counterparties to source additional XRP exposure as new shares are created. Continued inflows therefore add a buyer to a market where one source of potential selling pressure has been receding.

That interaction is becoming increasingly important for XRP’s recovery. Falling whale deposits can reduce the amount of supply reaching Binance, but a sustained price advance still requires buyers willing to absorb the tokens available at higher prices.

ETF investors are providing part of that demand. Whether their purchases are large enough to help push XRP beyond the range that has held since June remains the next test.

The post XRP’s $1.16 recovery gets support from whales and a $285 million ETF streak appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart argued that the CLARITY Act should carry virtually no direct effect on Bitcoin's price.

In his view, Bitcoin already holds the infrastructure the bill is trying to build for the rest of the industry: commodity treatment, regulated futures, spot ETF access, and institutional custody.

That claim sits inside a wider debate over what CLARITY changes for crypto and what it leaves alone.

Senate Republicans released updated CLARITY text on July 22, covering stablecoin rewards, SEC fundraising exemptions, DeFi classification, anti-money-laundering rules, and the division of regulatory authority. The bill still needs at least eight Democratic votes to clear the Senate before the August recess.

Senate Banking's Democratic minority has already pushed back: Elizabeth Warren's office called the ethics provisions insufficient, questioning enforcement by the Justice Department and limits on state attorneys general.

The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETPs in January 2024, the CFTC treats Bitcoin as a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act, and regulated futures and institutional custody have operated for years.

Seyffart's argument follows from that infrastructure: Ethereum, Solana, and the applications built on top of them have more to gain from CLARITY as the bill defines legal status those networks still lack.

Arthur Hayes argued at Consensus Miami that swings in fiat liquidity are what move Bitcoin's price, and that Bitcoin draws its value from sitting apart from the regulatory system CLARITY is meant to formalize.

Grayscale's beneficiary analysis backs the same logic, naming Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and Canton Network as the blockchains best positioned for the tokenization, staking, and on-chain activity that clearer rules would unlock.

The July 22 update lists stablecoin rewards, SEC fundraising exemptions for token issuers, DeFi classification, anti-money-laundering duties for digital commodity exchanges and brokers, and tokenization rules.

Ethereum currently holds about $149.7 billion of the roughly $310 billion stablecoin market, Solana holds about $15.3 billion, and Circle's USDC accounts for close to $73.3 billion of total stablecoin supply.

Those figures explain why Coinbase and Circle sit directly inside the bill's rulebook.

The indirect case for Bitcoin

Citi cut its 12-month Bitcoin target to $112,000 from $143,000 in March, citing slower legislative momentum and softer ETF-flow assumptions, then cut it again in July to $82,000, and lowered expected Bitcoin ETF inflows to zero from $10 billion over the next year.

Citi's mechanism runs through capital access: regulatory certainty shapes ETF demand, bank and wealth-platform distribution, and the risk premium investors attach to the entire asset class.

Bitwise's CIO Matt Hougan argued that CLARITY would convert today's favorable regulatory climate into durable law, protecting the industry from a future administrative reversal. Institutions weigh that durability alongside Bitcoin's own commodity status when they size a position.

Coinbase Institutional Research makes the same institutional argument, framing clearer regulation as a structural driver of deeper integration between crypto and traditional finance. Coinbase has a direct stake in that outcome, a detail worth weighing alongside its research when treating it as mechanism evidence.

Coinbase rose 9.6% and Circle gained 8.6% after progress on CLARITY's ethics negotiations on July 21, and Bitcoin added roughly 2% on the same day, closing near $66,417.

That gap is the market's first vote on where CLARITY's value lands, and one session cannot decide the debate on its own.

Two paths through August

In the bull case, the Senate clears a bill with enough bipartisan support, and its core provisions on exchanges, DeFi, stablecoins, fundraising, and tokenization survive intact. Coinbase, Circle, Ethereum, and Solana capture the direct legal unlock.

Bitcoin gains too, mainly through ETF inflows and expanded institutional risk budgets, with its own protocol untouched by the bill.

In the bear case, the bill stalls before the August recess, unable to secure the eight Democratic votes it needs or delayed further by ethics and enforcement disputes. Coinbase, Circle, and other regulation-sensitive assets absorb the setback directly.

Benchmark has argued for exactly this outcome: a failed bill would push investors toward Bitcoin-centric exposure and strong balance sheet infrastructure, and it would hit regulation-sensitive segments such as DeFi and altcoins hardest.

Bitcoin holds up better within crypto because it depends least on legislation, and its absolute path still rests on macro liquidity.

The test ahead is whether investors buying Bitcoin on legislative headlines are buying Bitcoin's own catalyst, or a liquid proxy for gains that belong to Coinbase, Circle, Ethereum, and Solana.

Bitcoin can move first, absorb new institutional flows, and still be the asset CLARITY changes least directly.

The post Bitcoin rose 2% on CLARITY progress while Coinbase, Circle jumped over 8% – but why? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

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

Where does Ethereum trade right now?

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

What are the key resistance levels for ETH?

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

What are the downside support levels?

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

Ethereum price prediction: high and low targets

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

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

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

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

Why is BitMEX shutting down?

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

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

What happens to my funds?

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

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

What is the wind-down timeline?

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

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

What should users watch out for?

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

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

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

How Much Have Bitcoin ETFs Bought This Week?

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

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

Why Does the ETF Flow Data Matter?

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

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

What Did Treasury Secretary Bessent Say About the CLARITY Act?

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

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

Is the CLARITY Act Actually Going to Pass?

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

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

What About the Macro Backdrop?

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

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Key Levels to Watch

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

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

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

What Happened to DeXe?

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

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

Why Did DeXe Crash?

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

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

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

Was DeXe a Rug Pull?

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

DeXe Crash — Chart Analysis

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

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

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

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

XRP is having a strong day. The Ripple-linked token climbed about 4% over the last 24 hours to trade near $1.13, and this time the move has real drivers behind it — a major regulatory win, widening institutional access, and a broader market lifted by a resurgent Bitcoin. The rally has also pushed $XRP above a descending trendline that has capped every attempt to recover since its $1.54 high.

Let's start with why it's moving, then look at what the chart says.

Why is XRP Price up today?

Three things are working in XRP's favor at once.

First, regulation. Ripple has secured full MiCA approval to operate across 30 European countries, which strengthens its appeal to banks and payment providers and removes a layer of uncertainty that had kept institutions cautious. Second, access is widening: investors can now buy 21Shares XRP through most brokerages without needing to hold the coin in self-custody — a meaningful lowering of the barrier for traditional money. Third, momentum from the broader market: XRP posted its fourth straight green daily close on Monday, with the move powered in large part by a rebounding Bitcoin dragging the majors higher.

Put together, that's a mix of structural and momentum drivers rather than a one-off spike.

XRP Price Analysis: Is XRP UP?

Now the technicals. From the $1.54 high, XRP carved out a clean downtrend — a series of lower highs, each rejected right at the same descending line (the yellow arrows on the chart mark those failed attempts). Price bottomed near the $1 support zone, bounced, got rejected at the trendline again, and pulled back.

Today breaks that pattern. The latest green candle has pushed through the descending line near $1.1361 instead of bouncing off it. That resistance has defined XRP's price action for roughly two and a half months, so clearing it is the first genuine technical win the bulls have had in a while. Analysts note the move also lines up with a symmetrical-triangle breakout that traders had been watching, with $1.13 as the key trigger level.

XRP Prediction: Where does XRP go from here?

Breaking a trendline is a start, not a confirmation. On the daily chart, XRP is still inside a larger descending channel, with the 100-day and 200-day moving averages sitting overhead around $1.12-$1.13 and again near $1.24. That makes the $1.24-$1.28 zone the real test — it lines up with both the channel's upper boundary and the major moving averages. Clear it decisively, and analysts see $1.35 coming into focus.

On the downside, support sits firmly around $1.02-$1.06, where buyers have repeatedly stepped in over recent weeks. A loss of that zone would undo the breakout and potentially expose the $0.88-$0.92 area.

The takeaway: XRP has fundamentals and momentum aligning with a technical breakout — but it needs to hold above $1.13 and eventually crack $1.24-$1.28 to turn today's move from a breakout attempt into a real trend reversal.

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

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

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

Physical attacks on crypto holders are increasingly happening at home, and France has become the epicenter, a new report finds.

The exploit hit a custody bridge AFX operates rather than the Arbitrum network itself, with the stolen funds quickly moved to Ethereum.

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

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

74% Shibarium surge raises big SHIB question as traders seek for clues.

XRP ETFs hold record 1.47% supply ahead of Senate vote, Grayscale drops BTC halving theory, and three DeFi protocols lose $35.5M in back-to-back hacks.

Near Protocol is losing traction on the market as investors pivot to different assets class.

Key Takeaways

• ServiceNow shares advanced approximately 2–5.5% following second-quarter results that surpassed expectations for both revenue and earnings
• Quarterly revenue reached $3.98–$3.99 billion, marking a 24% year-over-year increase and exceeding the $3.93 billion Wall Street forecast
• Non-GAAP EPS of $0.90 surpassed analyst projections of $0.85–$0.86
• The company increased its 2026 AI annual contract value projection by 50%, raising it to $1.5 billion
• J.P. Morgan retained its Buy recommendation with a $145 target price, suggesting potential upside of approximately 49%

ServiceNow delivered an impressive second quarter. The enterprise software provider announced financial results Wednesday after market close that exceeded analyst expectations across key metrics, driving shares higher in Thursday trading.

ServiceNow, Inc., NOW

Quarterly revenue totaled $3.98–$3.99 billion, representing a 24% year-over-year climb and surpassing the Street’s $3.93 billion projection. Non-GAAP earnings per share registered at $0.90, exceeding the consensus range of $0.85–$0.86.

Shares jumped approximately 5.5% to around $100.67 in pre-market activity on Thursday, before moderating to roughly 2% gains during the standard trading session.

Chief Executive Bill McDermott described the performance as exceptional, stating the results “solidify our position as the fastest-growing major enterprise software and cybersecurity company.”

Heading into the earnings release, NOW stock had tumbled nearly 38% year-to-date, pressured by worries surrounding softening enterprise software expenditures and potential AI-related disruption. Thursday’s positive movement provided some respite, though shares remain far from recovering their earlier losses.

AI Segment Shows Accelerating Momentum

The company elevated its 2026 AI annual contract value objective by 50%, bringing the target to $1.5 billion, citing better-than-anticipated customer uptake. This represents a significant leap for a segment that has captured considerable investor attention.

J.P. Morgan’s Mark Murphy highlighted an “odd lull” in organic constant-currency cRPO expansion as a remaining area of concern. He anticipates cautious investor sentiment may persist until the company demonstrates growth rebounding to previous rates.

Regarding full-year projections, ServiceNow upgraded its subscription revenue forecast. For the third quarter, executives provided subscription revenue guidance of $3.975–$3.98 billion, indicating roughly 20.5% year-over-year growth, with cRPO expansion around 19.5%.

Murphy observed that the conservative guidance increase might prompt investors to question why robust AI traction wasn’t more prominently visible. He anticipates management will provide additional clarity during the forthcoming Financial Analyst Day.

Analyst Community Maintains Positive Outlook

Murphy preserved his Overweight stance while reducing his price objective to $145 from $195. That target still represents approximately 49% potential upside from present levels. He contended that pessimistic expectations for below-historical valuation multiples are “overdone to the downside.”

Jefferies’ Samad Samana maintained his Buy rating while increasing his price target from $135 to $140. Kirk Materne of Evercore ISI retained an Outperform rating and elevated his target from $150 to $160.

Overall, ServiceNow carries a Strong Buy consensus rating from the analyst community, comprised of 26 Buy ratings, 2 Hold ratings, and 1 Sell rating. The mean price target stands at $140.65, suggesting approximately 44% upside potential over the coming 12 months.

Murphy emphasized ServiceNow’s capacity to enable customers to “do more with less” as a critical value proposition as organizations constrain software budgets. He views the current deceleration as comparable to earlier temporary slowdowns that preceded renewed acceleration.

The scheduled Financial Analyst Day represents the next significant event where leadership is anticipated to elaborate on long-range objectives and strategic direction.

The post ServiceNow (NOW) Stock Gains as Q2 Earnings Beat Expectations and AI Targets Surge appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Coinbase is developing a post-quantum custody system to prepare for future cryptographic threats.
• The exchange plans to launch an automated post-quantum signing pipeline within the next year.
• Coinbase said its current key management system protects approximately 99.9% of custodied assets.
• The company formed an Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and blockchain earlier this year.
• Coinbase is working with Bitcoin Core developers, cryptographers, and researchers on migration strategies.

Coinbase is expanding its work on post-quantum security as it prepares for a future where quantum computers could challenge Bitcoin’s current cryptography. The company said the risk is not immediate, but preparing early is necessary because upgrading decentralized systems and moving millions of users would require careful coordination. Coinbase also confirmed that it is working with developers and researchers while supporting broader Bitcoin security efforts through industry partnerships.

Coinbase Builds Post-Quantum Custody System

Coinbase said it is developing a post-quantum custody system that will allow customers to move to stronger cryptographic protections once blockchain networks adopt new standards. The company explained that its current key management system already protects about 99.9% of the assets it holds in custody.

The exchange said its Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain will deliver an automated post-quantum signing pipeline within the next year. The system will use secure enclaves and threshold cryptography to support future blockchain upgrades.

Coinbase said, “A large-scale quantum computer capable of breaking current cryptography will eventually be built,” adding that preparation should begin “not when it’s urgent.”

Bitcoin Developers Join Quantum Security Effort

Coinbase said it is bringing together Bitcoin Core developers, cryptographers, and security researchers to discuss migration strategies for a post-quantum future. The company plans to continue holding these discussions as work on new security standards progresses.

The exchange is also a founding member of the Bitcoin Security Consortium alongside BlackRock, Fidelity Digital Assets, Block, and other industry participants. The group has committed funding and engineering support for open-source Bitcoin security projects, including proposals such as BIP-360.

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

The crypto industry has monitored quantum computing for years, although experts say practical risks remain distant. Quantum computers are still experimental and continue to face technical limits before they can perform large-scale cryptographic attacks.

Interest in post-quantum security increased after Google researchers reported that future advances could sharply reduce the time needed to break existing cryptography. While some researchers consider those concerns premature, others have already started testing quantum-resistant signatures on blockchain sidechains.

The post Coinbase Prepares Bitcoin Custody for Quantum Computing Era appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• Strategy leads nine firms pledging $15 million to fund Bitcoin developers over three years.
• Consortium members direct funding independently without controlling Bitcoin’s protocol decisions.
• CryptoQuant estimates 6.9 million bitcoin could face risk from future quantum computing advances.
• Galaxy separately committed $5 million toward quantum-resistant wallet tools and security audits. 

Bitcoin Security Consortium has officially launched under Strategy’s leadership, joined by BlackRock, Coinbase, and seven other major firms.

The group pledged an aggregate $15 million over three years to fund Bitcoin developers and security researchers. Strategy positioned the initiative as a response to long-term threats facing Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundation, including quantum computing risks.

Strategy Leads Coalition of Major Bitcoin Holders

Strategy brought together eight additional firms to form this new funding coalition. Founding members include BlackRock, Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Galaxy.

Each company represents a distinct segment of the institutional Bitcoin ecosystem. Together they span custody, exchange services, infrastructure, and asset management functions.

Strategy CEO Phong Le framed the launch around shared incentives among long-term Bitcoin holders. “As long-term holders, we have every incentive to see Bitcoin remain secure for generations,” he said.

He added that funding the people doing this work is a natural way to contribute. His comments tied the consortium’s mission to protecting long-term institutional investment.

Michael Saylor amplified the announcement through a public social media post shortly after launch. “Bitcoin’s security is a shared responsibility,” he wrote.

He said the consortium is backed by $15 million in commitments supporting developers and researchers. Saylor’s post reinforced Strategy’s central role in organizing the effort.

Mike Schmidt, executive director of Brink, will coordinate the consortium’s daily operations. He serves in this role on a volunteer basis alongside his nonprofit work.

Brink already funds Bitcoin’s open-source developer community through independent grants. His involvement links the new consortium to existing developer funding infrastructure.

Nine Members Commit Funding Without Pooling Resources

The $15 million pledge will not be held in a single pooled account. Instead, each member directs its own contribution independently to chosen recipients.

Companies select which developers, researchers, or organizations receive their individual funding. The consortium itself holds no role in fund allocation or distribution decisions.

Individual contribution amounts from each of the nine firms remain undisclosed. The announcement also did not specify which recipients would receive initial funding.

It remains unclear how much of the total represents newly committed money. Some contributions may reflect funding commitments made before the launch.

BlackRock’s Robert Mitchnick praised the developer community behind Bitcoin’s core software. “Bitcoin Core developers do incredibly important work,” he said.

He added that BlackRock and other members would now provide additional funding for long-term security needs. Both executives emphasized funding without attempting to direct technical outcomes.

Galaxy separately launched its own $5 million initiative for quantum-resistant tools this week. That program targets wallet migration support, signature research, and independent audits.

The consortium did not clarify whether this funding counts toward its broader total. This raises questions about how member commitments overlap across separate initiatives.

Quantum Computing Named as Consortium’s First Priority

The consortium’s initial focus centers on preparing Bitcoin for future quantum computing threats. Machines capable of breaking Bitcoin’s current cryptography do not exist today.

Credible estimates place that capability years away from practical development. Developers have nonetheless begun researching potential defensive measures against this risk.

CryptoQuant research estimates roughly 6.9 million bitcoin could face exposure eventually. Addressing that vulnerability would require coordinated technical changes across the entire network.

Wallets, exchanges, miners, and individual users would all need to participate. Reaching consensus across Bitcoin’s decentralized structure could take considerable time to complete.

Proposed technical responses include BIP 360, introducing a new output type. This proposal aims to limit public key exposure during transactions.

Other approaches under discussion involve post-quantum signature schemes for future security. Developers are also examining methods to protect coins in older, exposed addresses.

Strategy and its partners stressed the consortium will not direct Bitcoin’s protocol development. It takes no position on specific proposed changes currently under community debate.

Members plan to publish ongoing material tracking security progress for public reference. This transparency effort aims to serve investors, media, and the broader public.

The post Strategy Launches Bitcoin Security Consortium with BlackRock, Coinbase and Others, Pledging $15 Million appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon publicly backed the CLARITY Act, calling for clear digital asset market rules.
• Solomon said the bill would help create a level playing field and support responsible market development.
• His comments came as lawmakers prepared updated bill text ahead of a possible Senate floor vote.
• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon opposed parts of the legislation, citing concerns over yield-bearing stablecoins.
• Dimon argued that crypto firms offering bank-like products should face similar regulatory standards as banks.
• JPMorgan reiterated that comparable financial services should have comparable oversight and consumer protections.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has voiced support for the CLARITY Act, saying the proposed legislation would provide a clearer regulatory framework for the digital asset market. His comments came as lawmakers continued discussions on the bill before a possible Senate floor vote next week.

Speaking to Politico, Solomon said, “The CLARITY Act — like all legislation — is not perfect. And there are lots of things that you could debate and argue about.” He added that the bill would help create “a level playing field to enhance market stability and allow these markets to develop appropriately.”

Solomon also expressed support for advancing the legislation through Congress. He said, “I’m very supportive of moving the CLARITY Act forward, so we can get some market structure in place and start to move the innovation process along.”

Banking Leaders Continue to Raise Stablecoin Concerns

Solomon’s position differs from that of several banking executives who remain concerned about parts of the legislation. Some bank leaders argue that crypto companies could receive regulatory advantages if they offer products that resemble traditional banking services without meeting the same standards.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has publicly criticized parts of the proposal. During a Fox Business interview in May, Dimon said, “It allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits, stablecoins or something like that, without protection that they should have.”

He also warned that banks would oppose the measure in its current form. Dimon said, “The banks will not accept it that way. I’m not worried about stablecoins but if it happened I’m telling you I will have nothing to do with it and it will eventually blow up.”

JPMorgan repeated similar concerns in a June blog post. Bank executives argued that companies offering services similar to bank accounts should follow comparable oversight and consumer protection requirements.

Stablecoin Debate Remains Central to the Bill

The treatment of yield-bearing stablecoins remains one of the main topics during negotiations over the CLARITY Act. Lawmakers continue working on provisions covering stablecoin issuers, consumer protections, and products that offer rewards to users.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said banks are lobbying lawmakers to limit stablecoin rewards because they compete with traditional deposit-based businesses. Banking executives continue to argue that firms offering similar financial products should operate under similar rules.

Earlier this year, Solomon also spoke about regulation during a separate event. He said, “When you burden this system with excessive regulation, you start to extract capital.” He added that regulation is necessary but said “it has got to be done thoughtfully, and we’ve got to get it right.”

The CLARITY Act seeks to define the responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for digital assets. Negotiations on several sections of the bill continue before lawmakers decide its next step in Congress.

The post Goldman Sachs Backs CLARITY Act, but Banks Push Back appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• TMO surged over 5% in premarket trade following a strong Q2 2026 performance that exceeded analyst expectations
• The company posted adjusted EPS of $6.03, surpassing the Street’s $5.72 projection; quarterly revenue reached $11.99B compared to $10.85B last year
• Year-over-year organic revenue expansion hit 5%, driven by strength in Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services at $6.69B
• Full-year 2026 projections were increased with adjusted EPS now expected between $24.93–$25.33 and revenue forecast at $47.4B–$48.1B
• The impressive quarterly performance provides relief following Danaher’s disappointing Q3 projection released days earlier

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) climbed more than 5% during Thursday’s premarket session following a second-quarter earnings report that exceeded analyst projections across key metrics.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., TMO

TMO had experienced selling pressure at the start of the week after competitor Danaher (DHR) issued a lackluster forecast, making this earnings surprise particularly significant for market participants.

The company delivered adjusted earnings per share of $6.03, significantly exceeding the analyst consensus of $5.72. This marked approximately 13% expansion compared to the prior-year quarter.

Quarterly revenue totaling $11.99 billion for the period closing June 27, 2026 represented a 10% increase from the $10.85 billion recorded in last year’s comparable quarter. Wall Street had anticipated $11.71 billion.

The company achieved 5% organic revenue growth throughout the quarter, demonstrating healthy demand spanning its various operating segments.

Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services emerged as the primary growth engine, generating $6.69 billion — representing approximately 55.8% of consolidated revenue. This division expanded roughly 12% on a year-over-year basis.

The Life Sciences Solutions segment contributed $2.8 billion with about 13% growth, while Analytical Instruments delivered $1.8 billion, representing roughly 7% expansion.

Company Increases Full Year 2026 Projections

Executives announced an upgraded full-year forecast during the earnings presentation. The company now projects adjusted EPS between $24.93 and $25.33, revised upward from the previous $24.64 to $25.12 range. Wall Street consensus stood at $24.85.

Revenue expectations for the full year were also adjusted higher, now targeting $47.4 billion to $48.1 billion versus the prior $47.3 billion to $48.1 billion outlook. The updated midpoint surpasses analyst estimates of $47.76 billion.

Chief Executive Marc Casper expressed confidence that the organization is “well positioned to deliver a great 2026” as it reaches the year’s midpoint.

Adjusted operating margin improved to 22.8% versus 21.9% in the comparable quarter last year. GAAP diluted earnings per share increased 9% to $4.68.

Share Buybacks and Innovation Updates

Throughout the quarter, the company executed $1.0 billion in share repurchases and revealed intentions to sell its microbiology division as part of ongoing portfolio optimization efforts.

Additionally, Thermo Fisher introduced its latest Orbitrap platform series featuring artificial intelligence-powered analytics capabilities and inaugurated a new Bioprocess Design Center facility in Plainville, Massachusetts.

Casper attributed the strong performance to the firm’s PPI Business System and what he described as “excellent execution” by the organization’s personnel.

These Q2 results serve as a positive contrast to the broader sector concerns that emerged following Danaher’s weaker-than-anticipated Q3 2026 forecast issued earlier this week.

The post Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) Stock Surges 5% on Strong Q2 Earnings Beat appeared first on Blockonomi.

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

Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

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

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

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

BTC/USDT 4-Hour Chart

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

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

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

Sentiment Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

Ripple Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

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

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

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

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

XRP/USDT 4-Hour Chart

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

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

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

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

The primary cryptocurrency has staged a minor resurgence over the past week, with its valuation briefly rising to nearly $67,000 and now hovering around $65,000.

However, some analysts warn that this is unlikely to mark the start of a new bull run, envisioning a major collapse in the near future.

Same as 2022?

BTC, which plunged below $58,000 at the end of June, has rebounded by double digits in the following several weeks. And while bulls eagerly await the end of the bear market, the analyst who uses the X moniker BATMAN shut down that optimism.

They believe the cryptocurrency’s recent price increase mirrors the one from the autumn of 2022, which was followed by a massive crash to roughly $16,000.

“Side by side, this level looks concerning. It mirrors a similar bullish pump from 2022 that led to nothing afterward. History might not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme,” they stated.

Of course, one should keep in mind that the drop below $20K at that time was driven largely by the meltdown of the once-prominent crypto exchange FTX: something that sent shockwaves through the entire digital asset sector.

For their part, X user Kabuki believes that the latest price setup represents a classic bull trap. They think BTC could dump to as low as $47,000 by August before starting a major uptrend move that could take it to over $200,000 by the start of next year.

Monitoring These Vital Levels

X user Ted also gave his two cents, noting the decline from the local high of almost $67K to the current $65K. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of the lower target, arguing that BTC could surge to $67,500-$68,000 if it stays above.

Meanwhile, Bitfinex’s analysts pointed to a key reaction zone between $67,900 and $68,300, where the short-term holder realized price and the second-quarter opening level have lined up. They believe a decisive breakout above or below that range could determine the asset’s direction in the near future.

It is important to note that the renewed institutional interest gives hope that Bitcoin hasn’t completely lost its momentum and might soon post fresh gains. According to SoSoValue, the inflows into spot BTC ETFs have surpassed outflows in the past seven consecutive days, something unseen since April.

The development shows that pension funds, hedge funds, and other conservative investors have increased their exposure to the asset, prompting BlackRock, Fidelity, and many other financial giants that have launched such products to purchase Bitcoin, thereby backing their shares. The situation was much different toward the end of June, when spot BTC ETFs saw a weekly outflow of around $1.8 billion.

The post 2022 vs. 2026: Analyst Warns Bitcoin’s Recent Rally Could End in a Massive Crash appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The European Union agreed on Thursday to its 21st sanctions package against Russia. EU persons are now barred from transacting with 11 unnamed crypto operators and 94 banks and financial institutions.

While names of the 11 crypto platforms have been withheld, the EU has revealed that they mostly operate in Belarus and Nigeria, acting as conduits to funnel money between Russia and countries blocked from doing business with it.

Previously, Brussels was limited to sanctioning individual firms. It now has the power to bar crypto services from an entire nation or jurisdiction if it is viewed as a hub for laundering Russian financial transactions, an unprecedented development in the battle against sanctions evasion.

Stablecoins and The Garantex Trail

This package is the latest in a series of moves to tighten the net on crypto services tied to the ruble. Earlier this year, the A7A5 stablecoin, which acted as a bridge between sanctioned exchanges Garantex and Grinex, was designated, followed by the RUBx token and digital ruble.

The UK moved in parallel, sanctioning the HTX (formerly Huobi) exchange in May over alleged ties to A7 and Garantex. A Global Ledger report found HTX had processed around $21 billion in ‘high-risk’ crypto transactions over the last 5 years, with almost $8 billion of it tied to Russian actors and darknet markets.

Broad Scope: Banks, Oil And The Shadow Fleet

The package designates 94 financial institutions, including 32 banks and the Moscow stock exchange, freezing their EU-held assets and banning transactions with them. It also targets vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet for the first time.

I welcome the agreement on the 21st sanctions package against Russia.

At a time when Ukraine has built military momentum, our sanctions continue to weaken the economic foundations of Russia’s war effort.

We’re adding 32 more Russian banks to our transaction ban list.

As well…

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 23, 2026

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed a freeze on oil cap prices at $44.10 a barrel ‘so that the Russian war machine does not benefit from market shocks,’ adding that Brussels also plans on banning Russian combatants from entering the EU.

The post EU Hits Russia With Toughest Crypto Crackdown Yet appeared first on CryptoPotato.

A group of Senate Democrats who generally support crypto legislation has said the latest draft of the CLARITY Act still falls short, raising objections to its ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest, and market integrity provisions.

Their statement adds another hurdle for legislation that already needs bipartisan backing to reach the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate.

Democrats Push Back on Latest Draft

The updated draft, released by Senate Republicans on July 22, includes an ethics package negotiated between the White House and Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno. The proposal would bar the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges and certain other officials, along with their spouses, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for compensation while in office, with the restriction expiring on January 20, 2029.

Covered officials would also have to divest crypto holdings or place them in qualified blind trusts, while the Department of Justice would receive civil enforcement authority, including the ability to sue exchanges that list banned tokens.

However, after the updated draft was shared with Democratic lawmakers, Senators Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner, and Raphael Warnock released a joint statement noting that the language on ethics and several important sections was still not strong enough.

“The Republican-proposed text of the CLARITY Act as it currently stands falls short,” their statement read. “Key provisions including those addressing ethics for elected officials, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest and market integrity must be strengthened.”

The lawmakers added that they had worked “in good faith” with Republican colleagues for the past year and would continue doing so until the bill was passed.

Speaking during a public appearance, Senator Alsobrooks called the proposal to place enforcement solely with the DOJ “wild and unserious and stone-cold crazy,” arguing that state attorneys general should have enforcement powers.

Securities lawyer Amanda Fischer went further in a social media thread, writing that the draft “doesn’t change much at all about Trump’s existing crypto grift” since it doesn’t force any immediate divestment and leaves enforcement to Trump’s own appointee, Todd Blanche.

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act language has stayed unchanged, preserving protections for non-custodial software developers and blockchain infrastructure providers while keeping self-custody rights intact.

Furthermore, the negotiated stablecoin rewards compromise has been maintained, but new law enforcement measures have been added, including funding for blockchain investigations, training programs, a cyber center targeting nation-state threats, and procedures allowing compliant stablecoin issuers to freeze or reissue tokens when legally required.

A Bill Still Short on Votes

The political divide is not new for the CLARITY Act. The House passed its own version 294-134 back in July 2025, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced this chamber’s draft in May with two Democrats crossing over.

Getting 60 votes on the floor is a different fight, and prediction markets have priced that in. As CryptoPotato reported, odds of passage this year sat above 70% right after the Banking Committee vote and had slipped to around 31% by this week.

Meanwhile, former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo believes there is a greater than 50% chance the CLARITY Act ultimately fails, although he argued that the SEC and CFTC have already established regulatory frameworks that would continue supporting innovation even without the bill.

The post Democrats Reject Latest CLARITY Act Draft Over Ethics, Illicit Finance Concerns appeared first on CryptoPotato.