Cryptocurrency
OKX Europe launches USDT-to-USDC conversion to navigate MiCA rules
As European exchanges scramble to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, OKX Europe has debuted a one-way conversion tool allowing users across 30 nations to swap Tether’s USDT for the MiCA-compliant USDC, effectively providing an exit ramp for holders facing restricted access to their preferred stablecoin.
Consensys Freezes Releases After North Korean Impostor Infiltrates Team
Consensys has suspended product releases following the discovery that a consultant with ties to North Korea maintained access to its internal systems for one month. The developer, operating under the alias Tyler Knapp, contributed code to the MetaMask platform before his activities were flagged and his access was revoked.
Galaxy Digital Stakes Claim on Texas Tech Football Stadium
Beginning in the 2026 season, the home of Red Raider Football will be known as Galaxy Stadium. The 15-year naming rights agreement marks a strategic shift for the digital asset firm, anchoring its presence in West Texas alongside its massive, 1.6-gigawatt Helios data center operation in Dickens County.
Ripple Secures EU-Wide Crypto Passport Under MiCA Framework
Ripple Payments Europe has joined the European Securities and Markets Authority’s official register of authorized crypto asset service providers. This inclusion grants the firm a critical passport to offer regulated crypto and stablecoin payment services across 29 European countries, marking a significant expansion for its cross-border infrastructure.
ECB Stablecoin Warning Rattles Coinbase and Circle Markets
European Central Bank board member Piero Cipollone has ignited fresh market volatility, warning that the rise of stablecoins threatens to siphon critical deposits away from traditional banks. His comments, delivered in Rome, have intensified pressure on crypto-linked stocks, leaving Coinbase and Circle struggling against mounting regulatory and technical headwinds.
Augur pivots to decentralized settlement for prediction markets
As institutional scrutiny of prediction markets intensifies, the Lituus Foundation has unveiled a decentralized resolution layer designed to settle contested outcomes without relying on centralized committees or governance councils. This infrastructure aims to decouple outcome verification from trading platforms as legal pressure on market participants grows.
Anthropic Seeks $10B Meta Deal to Fuel IPO Ambitions
As Anthropic eyes a potential October IPO, the AI developer is negotiating a massive $10 billion computing lease with Meta Platforms. The deal, currently under review, would grant Anthropic critical access to Meta’s private infrastructure, marking a strategic shift for both companies as they race to scale advanced AI models.
FTX to Distribute $900M to Creditors as Bankman-Fried Pardon Hopes Dim
Bankrupt exchange FTX will initiate its fifth creditor distribution on July 31, unlocking nearly $900 million for claimants while founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces dwindling prospects for a presidential pardon following explicit resistance from political leadership.
Trump fails to break CLARITY Act deadlock as text remains withheld
Polymarket traders have slashed the odds of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 to 32%, reflecting growing investor skepticism after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Senate Republicans failed to produce the long-awaited revised text of the legislation.
SpaceX Shares Hit Record Low After Starship Launch Scrub
SpaceX stock tumbled nearly 5% to $125 on Wednesday, marking a new post-IPO low after a technical failure forced the company to abort the 13th test flight of its Starship rocket. The decline pushes shares below the company’s $135 offering price, capping a 35% drop over the past month.
David Sacks warns US AI policy risks falling behind China
“This is how you lose the AI race,” declared David Sacks after China’s Kimi K3 model secured the top spot on the Frontend Code Arena. The former White House crypto advisor argues that stringent domestic regulations and federal pre-approval hurdles are effectively handicapping American developers while Chinese laboratories accelerate their progress.
Dogecoin stumbles as ETF inflows dry up
Dogecoin dropped 3.17% to $0.071 on July 17, marking a period of stagnation for the asset. Despite the arrival of T. Rowe Price’s new actively managed crypto fund, U.S. Dogecoin ETFs have recorded zero fresh capital inflows over the past month, suffering $871,000 in net outflows during July.
Morgan Stanley enables direct crypto trading on E*TRADE
Eligible E*TRADE users can now buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana directly through their brokerage accounts. Morgan Stanley implemented a 0.50% fee per transaction for the new service, which utilizes infrastructure provided by Zerohash to manage the underlying digital assets for its client base.
SBI Holdings secures Singapore foothold with Coinhako acquisition
With the Monetary Authority of Singapore granting formal approval on July 16, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has officially taken a majority stake in Coinhako. The deal transforms the decade-old Singaporean exchange into a consolidated subsidiary, providing SBI with a regulated gateway to expand its digital asset footprint across Southeast Asia.
Taiwan Court Slaps BitShine Founder With 22-Year Sentence
A Shilin District Court judge has sentenced the founder of the BitShine crypto exchange to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a massive fraud and money laundering operation. Prosecutors proved the defendant, identified as Shih, defrauded over 1,500 victims of more than NT$1.27 billion by exploiting the platform’s infrastructure.
Bitcoin Japan pivots to treasury strategy with $60M funding round
After a failed attempt to build a crypto reserve last year, Tokyo-listed Bitcoin Japan is attempting a fresh start with a 9.66 billion yen ($59.5 million) capital raise. The company, formerly known as Horita Marusho, intends to dedicate approximately 7% of these proceeds to its inaugural Bitcoin purchase.
Argentine Court Freezes Crypto Assets in $LIBRA Token Probe
Federal Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi has ordered the identification of holders behind 25 cryptocurrency wallets linked to the $LIBRA token, following a police investigation that traced approximately $8.2 million in suspicious transfers moving through major global exchanges since May.
Francesco D’Amato Leaves Ethereum Foundation for Ethlabs
After five years contributing to the Ethereum Foundation, researcher Francesco D’Amato has joined the independent nonprofit Ethlabs. His transition reflects a broader trend of core developers moving to decentralized organizations as the Foundation restructures its internal operations and shifts its long-term development focus.
Keyrock absorbs BlockFills assets to bolster derivatives operations
Following a $75 million lending loss and subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, BlockFills has offloaded its institutional trading and brokerage assets to Brussels-based market maker Keyrock. The acquisition secures proprietary technology, client relationships, and specialized derivatives expertise for the expanding firm as it seeks to scale its global institutional footprint.
Bitcoin Ordinals advocate proposes client to bypass Core transaction caps
Bitcoin Ordinals advocate Leonidas has unveiled a new open-source client dubbed Bitcoin $DOG Mode, designed to challenge long-standing policy restrictions within the Bitcoin network. The software aims to bypass transaction size limits and dust thresholds currently enforced by Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots, rather than by the protocol’s consensus rules.
BitPay Secures MiCA Approval for European Union Expansion
The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets has granted BitPay B.V. status as a crypto-asset service provider, unlocking the company's ability to offer regulated digital asset services across all European Union member states under the bloc's comprehensive Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.
Rotterdam Court Declares Crypto Exchange Knaken Bankrupt
A Rotterdam court has officially declared the Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Knaken bankrupt after prosecutors uncovered a 7 million euro hole in the platform's balance sheet. The ruling follows a criminal investigation into the missing funds, which remain unaccounted for as local authorities attempt to untangle the firm's collapse.
JPMorgan Finds Stability in Strategy’s $3 Billion Cash Reserve
MicroStrategy’s decision to bolster its cash reserves to $3 billion, coupled with consistent inflows into bitcoin futures, provides a vital buffer for the cryptocurrency market. JPMorgan analysts suggest these moves mitigate risks of forced asset liquidation, even as spot Bitcoin ETFs experience inconsistent trading patterns.
Visa enters stablecoin market with new institutional platform
Visa has unveiled an enterprise stablecoin platform, positioning itself as a central hub for banks and fintechs to manage digital assets. By integrating Open USD as its primary supported currency, the payment giant is providing institutions with a direct infrastructure to mint, store, and transfer stablecoins alongside traditional payment rails.
PayPal Board Rejects $53 Billion Stripe-Advent Bid
A $53 billion takeover proposal from Stripe and private equity firm Advent International has hit a wall, as PayPal’s board argues the offer fails to reflect the company’s long-term growth potential and presents significant regulatory hurdles.
Circle and Fireblocks link institutional USDC and fiat rails
Stablecoins now account for 69% of all digital asset transaction volume on Fireblocks, signaling a shift in institutional treasury operations. To capture this demand, Circle has integrated its Gateway and Payments Network directly into the Fireblocks infrastructure, enabling cross-chain USDC management and global fiat settlements for enterprise users.
Brian Chesky confirms X account breach following crypto thread
“To the person who hacked my account earlier this week: thanks for all the new crypto followers,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote on X this Wednesday. The post officially confirmed that a series of detailed threads promoting blockchain-based real-world asset tokenization published on his profile were the work of unauthorized intruders.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Options Expiry Fails to Break Trading Range
With $1.2 billion in Bitcoin options expiring on July 17, the digital asset market showed little sign of breaking its month-long consolidation. While traders analyzed the $63,000 maximum pain point for BTC, Ethereum faced a deeper divide as put-call ratios signaled persistent caution regarding the asset’s near-term direction.
MegaETH shutters accelerator as startups migrate to rival networks
After two years of operation, MegaETH is terminating its Mega Mafia accelerator program. Despite helping 20 incubated teams secure approximately $80 million in capital, the blockchain network failed to retain these projects, which increasingly opted to build on alternative infrastructures rather than the native MegaETH ecosystem.
Ansem Challenges Token Buyback Efficacy Amid Valuation Divergence
Crypto trader Ansem is questioning the market's reliance on token buybacks, arguing that recurring repurchases fail to compensate for a lack of community trust. He highlights a massive valuation gap between Hyperliquid’s HYPE and Pump.fun’s PUMP as evidence that financial engineering cannot replace genuine user alignment.