Gemini Trust Company transferred over $10 million in Bitcoin to the super PAC MAGA Inc., which supports Donald Trump, according to a June 19 Federal Election Commission filing that listed two contributions each exceeding $5 million. The transfer occurred three weeks after Gemini and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a joint motion in a New York federal court seeking removal of the continuing provisions of a January 2025 consent order that imposed a $5 million civil penalty. Gemini and the CFTC said their review found issues with the original complaint, including questions about evidence and whistleblower credibility, but the agency did not request repayment of the fine. The motion seeks relief only from the injunction’s future‑facing terms. The Winklevoss twins each contributed $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and $21 million to the Digital Freedom Fund, a pro‑crypto PAC. MAGA Inc. reported total receipts of more than $397 million by June 30. Crypto firms have increased political spending, with estimates placing total crypto‑linked contributions at about $189 million for the 2026 election cycle, roughly 37% of tracked corporate contributions. The spending follows the pending CLARITY Act, which could expand CFTC oversight of digital assets. Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the CFTC’s reversal request, citing staffing cuts and potential political pressure, but offered no evidence linking the donation to the agency’s decision. The court has not yet ruled on the motion, and the Bitcoin transfer is a separate political contribution, as Gemini has already paid the penalty and cannot recover it. The case remains unresolved, and the role of cryptocurrency contributions in the 2026 election cycle continues to draw scrutiny.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, regulation, and the forces moving digital assets.
BitMEX announced that it will cease operations on September 23, 2026, at 04:00 UTC, after its owner HDR Global Trading Ltd concluded a strategic review and decided to close the platform. The company urged users to close positions and withdraw funds before the deadline.
Founded in 2014, BitMEX was among the first platforms to offer 100x leverage perpetual swaps, a product that helped define the decentralized derivatives market. According to CoinGecko’s Q2 2026 Crypto Industry Report, centralized exchange perpetual futures volume fell 10% to $12.7 trillion during the quarter, while decentralized platforms have continued to gain share.
BitMEX will halt new account registrations immediately and introduce risk limits on August 26, preventing users from opening new positions while allowing them to reduce existing exposure. The exchange said it will force close any remaining open positions at the closure time to ensure an orderly wind‑down. In a statement, BitMEX said user assets remain safe and under individual control during the transition, and warned that phishing attempts and fake withdrawal offers may increase. The company added that it may apply additional withdrawal reviews and network restrictions due to potentially higher withdrawal activity, and that its proof‑of‑reserves process shows user assets exceed liabilities. The shutdown follows a leadership transition in which CEO Stephan Lutz, CFO Ina Steiner and chief growth officer Raphael Polansky departed in the previous month, and former chief operating officer Peter Wilkinson assumed the CEO role; co‑founder Arthur Hayes has not publicly commented on the decision.
The closure represents a notable shift in the crypto derivatives landscape, as decentralized platforms such as Hyperliquid continue to attract trading volume while centralized exchanges face evolving regulatory and operational pressures.
The European Union added 14 cryptocurrency service platforms and 94 banks to its 21st sanctions package against Russia, adopted on July 23, which includes 218 individual listings. These measures target crypto providers in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, and they aim to block services that Russia uses to bypass financial restrictions. The package also bans EU operators from transacting with the listed platforms, freezes assets of the 94 banks, and prohibits transactions with 33 additional Russian credit institutions and four non‑Russian banks, one of which is a Kyrgyz bank linked to the Russian SPFS system. EU authorities said the new designations include four entities related to the A7 cross‑border payments network and give the bloc authority to prohibit crypto‑asset services linked to entire third countries that host sanctioned providers. In the energy sector, the EU added 41 shadow‑fleet vessels, raising the total to 673, and listed eight entities and one individual connected to those operations, as well as 18 entities and one individual tied to Russian oil refining, including three Russian refineries and a Belarusian refinery. The Georgian Kulevi refinery will face a transaction ban after a six‑month transition period because of its role in trading Russian oil, and eight oil traders were sanctioned for allegedly frustrating restrictions on Russian crude purchases. The Council paused the automatic adjustment of the Russian oil price cap until July 15, 2027, pending an interim review to determine whether the suspension remains necessary. In the military sector, the package added 56 individuals and companies associated with Russia’s defense industry, including 37 listings related to long‑range drone production, and imposed tighter export controls on 51 entities in China, India, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the UAE for dual‑use goods. Trade restrictions cover materials used in aircraft, drones, missiles and engine coatings and limit imports valued at over €60 million annually, including ores, metals, glassware and vehicle parts. The sanctions also prevent Russian nationals or residents from owning or controlling companies that provide crypto wallet, account or custody services, with the aim of limiting crypto use to circumvent conventional financial restrictions. The Council described the package as the largest grouping of new listings in four years.
White House pushes back after Senate Democrats reject revised CLARITY Act ethics provisions; President Trump accepted new ethics limits earlier this week, but lawmakers remain divided as they seek to advance comprehensive crypto legislation.
On July 22 Senate Republicans submitted revised CLARITY Act legislation that would 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, require them to sell certain crypto holdings, place them in blind trusts they do not control, or use a combination of both, and mandate disclosure for crypto sales exceeding $1,000.
The proposal would also give the Justice Department civil enforcement authority over violations, including cases involving exchanges that knowingly list prohibited digital assets.
Seven Senate Democrats — Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock — said the draft falls short on ethics, illicit finance, conflicts of interest and other unresolved issues, and their votes are needed for Republicans to reach the 60‑vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster.
Republicans hold 53 seats and would need at least seven Democrats to achieve the 60‑vote threshold, a hurdle that is uncertain given concerns raised by Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. John Kennedy.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the proposal would allow President Trump to earn another $1.4 billion from crypto and would increase the risk of crypto corruption, adding that the bill is unlikely to become law.
Amanda Fischer of Better Markets argued the draft does not clearly prohibit income from trading fees or reserve assets tied to existing Trump-linked ventures, and criticized the compliance timetable, limited enforcement mechanisms and the "knowingly and willfully" standard for civil penalties.
White House senior crypto adviser Patrick Witt said the dispute centers on whether state attorneys general should enforce the ethics provisions and whether the legislation should address President Trump's past crypto activity, arguing that denying state AG enforcement would be consistent with existing federal ethics law.
Industry leaders, including Miles Jennings of Andreessen Horowitz, Faryar Shirzad of Coinbase and Stuart Alderoty of Ripple, warned that the ethics dispute could derail the broader regulatory framework and urged lawmakers to accept compromise, noting that the legislation represents a step toward clearer federal oversight of digital assets.
Democrats reject the suggestion that opposing the current draft preserves the status quo, saying there is time to strengthen the bill before enacting a regulatory framework that could be difficult to revisit.
BitMEX faces a class‑action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, filed by BKX Services Inc. and David Namdar, alleging that the platform engineered forced liquidations that resulted in the loss of roughly 623 Bitcoin to its customers. The plaintiffs claim that BitMEX’s internal trading desk used private customer data to trade while the platform’s liquidation engine automatically closed positions, even when collateral remained valuable. The complaint says the liquidations were designed to profit the exchange, with the remaining Bitcoin transferred to an insurance fund that generated additional gains. The suit seeks the return of the alleged withheld Bitcoin and requests compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of U.S. customers who purchased Bitcoin swap products from July 23, 2018 onward. A prior 2020 class‑action complaint by Brett Messieh and others, filed under the Commodity Exchange Act, was dismissed without prejudice on June 30, 2025. The lawsuit was filed the same day BitMEX announced its closure after 11 years of operation, stating it would cease services on September 23, stop new registrations, and prohibit new positions from August 26, leading to a roughly 90 % drop in the value of its BMEX utility token. BitMEX has not responded to requests for comment.
BitMEX announced in July that it delisted 65 derivative contracts and spot pairs, citing insufficient trading interest, and said it will cease exchange services on September 23, 2026, at 4:00 am UTC. The exchange began the month by removing 21 derivative contracts on July 1, followed by nine spot pairs two weeks later. A further 35 derivative contracts were added to the delisting queue on July 15, bringing the total to 65. BitMEX said the delistings were driven by low trading activity and that the shutdown follows a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry. Roshan Dharia, a restructuring adviser for the firm, told Cointelegraph that the firm sees increasing concentration of liquidity among larger exchanges and higher compliance costs for mid‑sized exchanges. The shutdown will mark the end of BitMEX’s 11‑year operation in crypto derivatives, leaving the platform without services after the September 2026 deadline.
BlackRock, Coinbase and Strategy joined a $15 million Bitcoin Security Consortium announced July 23 to fund quantum‑resistant development.
The consortium, which also includes Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy, will initially focus on quantum threats to Bitcoin’s elliptic‑curve cryptography. Researchers have lowered estimates of the computing power needed for a future attack, and more than 7 million BTC (about 34.9 % of supply) are tied to public keys that could be exposed if quantum computers become capable.
Phong Le, chief executive of Strategy, said that as long‑term holders the members have an incentive to ensure Bitcoin’s security for generations and that funding developers and informing the conversation is a natural contribution.
Charles Edwards, founder of Capriole Investments, described quantum computing as the network’s largest long‑term technical threat, noting his “quantum discount factor” for Bitcoin had reached 30 %.
The consortium’s structure limits corporate influence: each member funds recipients independently and the group will take no official position on protocol changes. Mike Schmidt, executive director of Brink, was appointed to coordinate day‑to‑day work on a volunteer basis after consulting each member.
Governance questions remain about how much financial backing can shape the network’s technical direction. Draft BIP‑361 outlines a phased migration away from ECDSA and Schnorr signatures, but the proposal is still under review and has not been adopted. Developers must balance keeping legacy signatures usable against the risk of leaving coins vulnerable to quantum attacks.
The consortium can fund additional research and extend the preparation timeline, but it cannot resolve the technical and governance choices that Bitcoin users may eventually face.
Binance added Across Protocol (ACX), Lisk (LSK) and Stacks (STX) to its Monitoring Tag list on July 24, 2026, subjecting the three assets to heightened scrutiny of liquidity, development activity, security and compliance.
The Monitoring Tag signals that an asset carries higher volatility and risk than standard listings, but it does not indicate an immediate delisting.
Binance reviews each token against criteria that include trading volume, network security, smart‑contract stability, team commitment and public communication. The exchange said it will evaluate the three assets regularly and may adjust their status based on subsequent assessments.
Price movements followed the announcement: STX fell about 10.4% to roughly $0.150 over 24 hours, ACX declined 2.6% to around $0.041, and LSK traded near $0.085.
ACX originally received a Seed Tag when it listed on Binance in December 2024 and has risen about 147% since then; Lisk transitioned from a layer‑1 model to the Optimism Superchain, and Stacks continues to support Bitcoin‑based smart contracts, with Hex Trust adding STX and sBTC custody services in 2025.
The tag remains in place until Binance determines whether the tokens continue to meet its listing standards, and the exchange noted that spot trading and other services will stay available.
Binance plans to update the Monitoring Tag labels after publication and will conduct future reviews without specifying a timeline for any potential delisting decision.
Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten said during a podcast interview on Thursday that Tether appears to control Twenty One Capital, a publicly listed US bitcoin treasury firm, and described Jack Mallers' role at the company as ceremonial. Twenty One Capital was created through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XXI, holding approximately $3.6 billion in bitcoin, ranking it as the third‑largest public holder of bitcoin at the time of its launch. The company was backed by Tether Investments, the majority shareholder of Twenty One. Klippsten argued that Tether uses Twenty One as a vehicle to advance its interests in the United States, saying the firm functions as a U.S. entity for political purposes, though he provided no supporting evidence. He added that Mallers had promoted the company's stock in April, and expressed doubt that Mallers chose to step down. Tether declined to comment on the statements. Mallers announced his resignation on social media, stating that his focus remains on his company Strike, which also withdrew from a proposed merger with Twenty One. In April, Tether Investments proposed a two‑stage merger that would have folded Strike into Twenty One and then merged the combined entity with bitcoin miner Elektron Energy. The resignation and the proposed merger remain unresolved, and Tether has not responded to requests for comment, leaving the impact on Twenty One's governance and Tether's US strategy unclear.
Senate Republicans released the draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act on Wednesday, a measure that would bar all U.S. federal officials, including President Donald Trump, from issuing or sponsoring any digital asset. Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego said the proposal was not a serious effort and that he would work with Republicans, including Senator Thom Tillis, to develop a counterproposal. Gallego told Politico that after months of collaboration with Republican colleagues, he could not imagine the draft represented a serious attempt. Senate Republicans, including Senator Bernie Moreno, rejected the characterization that the ethics provisions were weak, describing the language as the most powerful ethics framework in U.S. history. They maintained that the draft was intended to provide clear rules for the digital asset market. The dispute underscores partisan disagreements over how to regulate digital assets, and the final form of the legislation remains unsettled.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was compromised on Thursday and used to post a false promotion for a token called Vladhood ($VLAD). The post claimed the token would be listed on the Robinhood app and included a blockchain wallet address before being removed.
Robinhood’s newly launched blockchain network, which debuted earlier this month, has attracted more than $700 million in assets, recorded over 300,000 daily active addresses and processed roughly 10 million transactions in a single day, according to a Dune dashboard created by Entropy Advisors.
The fraudulent post described Vladhood as the official Robinhood chain mascot and falsely stated it would appear in the Robinhood app. Robinhood confirmed that the account had been hacked and said it was working with X to restore access. The company removed the post and issued a statement on its X communications account.
The rapid growth of the blockchain has spurred a wave of new memecoins seeking to exploit its popularity. Since its launch, the network has seen significant speculative trading activity, with daily transaction volumes reaching tens of millions.
The incident highlights security concerns for high‑profile accounts as the platform’s blockchain continues to attract significant speculative interest.
Bitcoin held between $64,000 and $66,800 for a third consecutive session after a 13% rally from its July 1 low of $57,750, while failing to break above $66,000 on Tuesday. Traditional markets showed declines, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures down about 0.3% and the dollar index largely unchanged; gold and silver pulled back after a brief safe‑haven rally. Crypto trading volume slipped 1% to $147 billion and open interest remained near $111 billion, with Bitcoin futures open interest falling to 743 k BTC from highs above 760 k BTC, indicating unwinding of long positions. Implied volatility for Bitcoin rose for a fifth straight day, a metric that has been negatively correlated with spot price since the launch of spot ETFs. Altcoin sentiment was mixed: ZEC, HBAR, LTC, AVAX and SUI showed buyer pressure, whereas BTC, XLM, DOGE and SHIB exhibited seller pressure. WLFI rose 12.2% to $0.063, Morpho gained about 4% to $1.989, Athena added 2% to $0.092, and Lighter declined 2.9% after a 200% rally earlier in the year. The altcoin season indicator held at 51/100, and Binance maintained roughly 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading share despite early‑July net inflows. The market awaits a new catalyst to guide its next move.
Smarter Web, a UK‑listed Bitcoin treasury company, sold 177.89 BTC for $11.7 million to repay a convertible instrument that was due on July 23, reducing its diluted Bitcoin exposure by 6.18%.
The firm held 2,878 BTC before the transaction; after the sale it held 2,700.11 BTC. The repayment eliminated the potential issuance of 7,718,551 shares and altered the denominator used in its treasury calculations.
Under the legal issued share count of 371,965,705, Bitcoin per share fell from 773.73 sats to 725.90 sats, a 6.18% decline. Using the management‑defined fully diluted share count of 359,820,207, the decline was 4.17%. The company reported a quarterly gross BTC yield of -4.35%, attributing the change to the repayment.
The repayment removed a Bitcoin‑linked obligation and simplified the capital structure, but it also reduced per‑share Bitcoin holdings. The firm will need to consider financing capacity and collateral requirements for future funding as the immediate maturity date has passed.
BitMEX announced that it will remove 65 derivative contracts and spot trading pairs in July and cease exchange services on September 23, 2026, after a strategic review of its bu...
BitMEX announced that it will remove 65 derivative contracts and spot trading pairs in July and cease exchange services on September 23, 2026, after a strategic review of its business and the broader crypto industry.
Founded in 2014, BitMEX became known for leveraged crypto derivatives and introduced perpetual swaps in 2016. The exchange operated globally.
The removal schedule includes eight derivatives in January, eight in May, SPYUSDT in June, two Toncoin contracts in June, 21 contracts on July 2, nine spot pairs on July 16, and 35 derivatives scheduled for settlement on July 30, representing a higher number of removals than in the first half of 2026.
New risk limits will take effect on August 26, 04:00 UTC, prohibiting new positions. Users may reduce existing exposure but cannot open new trades after that time. BitMEX will close open orders and settle positions at the stated prices on September 23, 04:00 UTC, without charging settlement fees. Profit and loss from expired contracts will be transferred to users' Bitcoin or Tether balances.
Verified users who keep assets after the closure will incur a monthly fee of $50 or 1% of the balance per year, whichever is higher. Withdrawal processing may be delayed during periods of high demand, and Bitcoin withdrawals could be slower due to network confirmations or limited withdrawal addresses. BitMEX said withdrawals will remain open after services end.
Earlier in 2025, BitMEX appointed former chief operating officer and general counsel Peter Wilkinson as chief executive after removing Stephan Lutz and two other senior leaders. The firm hired Broadhaven Capital Partners in February 2025 to assist with a potential sale, though the closure statement did not reference that process.
BitMEX said customer assets exceed liabilities and directed users to its proof-of-reserves and liabilities page. The exchange warned that messages promising priority withdrawals are not offered by the company.
The shutdown follows a different path than recent exchange wind-downs, such as AscendEX, which faced possible balance losses after regulatory pressure.
The statement that assets cover customer liabilities comes from BitMEX itself.
BitMEX will settle 35 additional contracts on July 30, restrict new positions on August 26, and end exchange services on September 23. Users may continue to withdraw after the shutdown, subject to the fee structure and potential processing delays.
Coinbase Business announced on Thursday a payments stack that lets businesses accept payments from AI agents. The system, built on the x402 open internet payments standard, adds a separate transaction lane within Coinbase Business.
Coinbase Business launched in June 2025 as the company’s dedicated unit for commercial clients. Since then, the unit has signed up about 5,000 customers and processed roughly $1 billion in combined payments and trading volume, employing roughly 12 staff members.
Coelho‑Prabhu said agentic payments represent a strategic priority for Coinbase. The new payments stack uses the x402 open internet payments standard that Coinbase incubated and integrates with Coinbase Payments. The system allows businesses to add a separate transaction lane for AI agents, enabling them to accept payments without changing existing sales processes. Coinbase for Agents, announced on the same day, provides a SDK that lets users integrate AI setups into trading and investment workflows and adds x402 payment capability across the web. Coinbase also previously announced Coinbase Advisor, an SEC‑registered AI financial advisor that delivers tailored investment advice and commentary to users.
Traffic data from June showed that 53 percent of visits to the Base blockchain documentation were from agentic visitors, according to a Coinbase spokesperson. The end‑to‑end flow lets agents locate Coinbase CDP documentation, spin up an agent wallet, receive funding, pay merchants via Coinbase Business, and settle on Base or other chains using USDC. Early adopters are primarily firms in the digital infrastructure space that use bots to purchase Open Router credits, domain names, or cloud storage from Amazon or Google Cloud. Coelho‑Prabhu said the current adoption reflects early‑stage usage and that broader consumer commerce is expected to follow in the near term.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he supports advancing the Clarity Act, which would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, as Republican senators prepare an updated version of the bill for a possible Senate vote next week.
The Clarity Act, introduced by Republican lawmakers, aims to define the regulatory responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for digital assets.
Speaking at the Liberty World forum in Palm Beach, Solomon said the legislation, while imperfect, would provide regulatory certainty and create a level playing field for crypto markets, allowing them to develop without undue uncertainty.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and other banking executives have criticized provisions that would permit crypto firms to offer yield‑bearing stablecoins that resemble bank deposits, arguing the rules could place traditional banks at a competitive disadvantage.
In a June blog post, JPMorgan warned that crypto products functioning like bank accounts should be subject to the same oversight and consumer protections as traditional banking services.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has suggested that banks are lobbying against stablecoin rewards to protect their deposit‑based business models, while banking groups contend that crypto firms offering bank‑like services should be regulated like banks.
Solomon also noted in February that excessive regulation could extract capital from the system, emphasizing that oversight must be thoughtful and well designed.
The updated bill text circulated by Republican senators ahead of a Senate floor vote next week will determine whether the act advances, potentially shaping the regulatory landscape for stablecoins and the broader digital asset industry.
BitMEX, the Seychelles‑based crypto exchange founded by Arthur Hayes, announced on July 23 that it will cease operations at 04:00 UTC on September 23, granting customers a two‑month window to close positions and withdraw assets while new registrations have already been halted. Under the wind‑down timetable, trading limits will take effect at 04:00 UTC on August 26, after which users may only reduce existing positions and the exchange may forcibly close any contracts still open at the September 23 cutoff. KYC‑verified account holders retaining funds will incur a monthly fee equal to the greater of $50 or 1% of the balance per year; the notice also indicates that additional reviews and blockchain constraints could delay withdrawals and that no priority service is offered. BitMEX’s 24‑hour trading volume was reported at $120.84 million with $705.33 million in open interest, compared with $45.68 billion in volume and $25.10 billion in open interest for Binance Futures, indicating a relatively small share of total market activity. No public data currently tracks the destination of BitMEX traders, but the scale and liquidity of platforms such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and MEXC suggest dispersion across existing market pools rather than a single new home. The absolute deadlines set by the exchange mean customers must complete withdrawals by the stated dates, and the overall impact on market liquidity remains to be observed.
DeFi real‑world asset (RWA) total value locked rose to about $3.77 billion by July 22, roughly 95 days after an April 18 exploit that wiped $13 billion from the sector in 48 hours, according to DefiLlama. The recovery puts active DeFi TVL close to its pre‑shock level. DefiLlama data show the sector’s overall tokenized RWA value was about $51.9 billion, with active DeFi TVL representing roughly 7 percent of that amount. Ethereum accounted for $1.98 billion, 53 percent of active TVL; Solana held $464 million; Monad $337 million; Avalanche $261 million; and Plasma $211 million. The April incident involved a compromised verification setup that let attackers forge a cross‑chain message and mint 116,500 unbacked rsETH, valued at $292 million, through KelpDAO’s LayerZero bridge. The tokens were accepted as collateral on Aave, enabling the attacker to borrow $8.45 billion across lending markets within two days. Aave and other protocols coordinated to restore rsETH backing and cover the resulting bad debt, steps that closed the specific vulnerability exposed by the exploit, the parties said. Post‑recovery, active TVL remains concentrated, with private‑credit tokens and a few large deployments dominating usage. While the market has regained its pre‑exploit level, the depth and diversification of collateral remain uneven, analysts noted. Scenarios outlined by DefiLlama suggest that if TVL exceeds $4 billion and spreads across more chains and asset types, composability could strengthen; a base case keeps TVL near $3.8 billion with continued concentration; a bear case could see TVL fall below $2.5 billion if another bridge or collateral failure triggers supply‑cap cuts.
Bitcoin hovered near $65,400 in Asian trading on Friday, unchanged less than 1% on the day and up 3% for the week. The Magnificent Seven technology stocks fell 4.8%, shedding about $797 billion in market value, the largest single‑day decline since the April 2025 tariff selloff, according to Bloomberg. The S&P 500 slipped 1.2% and the Nasdaq 1.9%, leaving the group 11% below its late‑May peak and erasing roughly $2 trillion in value. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure forecast to $205 billion for the year, and Tesla described 2026 as a massive capex year after reporting profits below expectations, prompting concerns that AI spending may outpace returns. Crypto had been closely linked to the AI trade, but its resilience during the equity rout suggested a possible, though unproven, decoupling. Dogecoin dropped 5% to $0.069, XRP fell 2% to $1.11, Solana slipped 3% to $76, and Hyperliquid’s HYPE declined 4% over seven sessions. Binance retained roughly 55% of user funds and 24% of spot assets, attracting net inflows in early July while the broader market experienced outflows.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on July 22 to settle a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by History Associates Inc. on behalf of Coinbase, agreeing to pay $150,000 and produce remaining documents related to its investigation of Ethereum.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2024 after the SEC did not fully respond to three record requests submitted in 2023 seeking documents about SEC investigations into Zachary Coburn and Enigma MPC and about Ethereum’s transition to proof‑of‑stake.
The case forced the SEC to turn over thousands of documents and highlighted the deletion of text messages and data from the phones of senior officials, including former chair Gary Gensler, after an internal review in September 2025 found that the agency had inadvertently erased Gensler’s messages from October 2022 to September 2023 and wiped 21 phones belonging to top staff, five of which belonged to individuals named in the suit. The SEC notified the National Archives of the deletions in July 2025.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the settlement represents a win for transparency, linking it to a separate FDIC investigation into evidence handling during the 2023 banking crisis. He posted on X that the SEC had deleted texts during an anti‑crypto campaign and that the evidence was uncovered after Coinbase’s legal efforts.
The dismissal will be finalized once the SEC completes production of the remaining records, ending more than two years of litigation over the document requests.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a public roundtable on September 17 in Washington, D.C., to discuss preparations for continuous trading in U.S. equity markets. The meeting will address market operations, system resilience, investor protection and related infrastructure issues. Nasdaq and Cboe are working with regulators to extend trading hours beyond the current 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time schedule, with Nasdaq targeting a five‑day, 24‑hour schedule starting in the second half of 2026 pending approval and system readiness. Cboe proposes a schedule that begins at 9 p.m. Eastern on Sunday and runs until 8 p.m. Friday, with a one‑hour daily break, while the London Stock Exchange plans a separate venue for near‑continuous trading, aiming to begin client testing by the end of 2026 and launch exchange‑traded products in early 2027. The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets has indicated that broader access will require coordination among market data, clearing, corporate actions and trade reporting services. Officials noted that continuous trading could align U.S. markets with jurisdictions that already operate around the clock, but it also raises questions about liquidity, market maker participation and risk management. Crypto exchanges have long offered 24/7 trading, a model that has increased demand for similar access to traditional securities. Tokenized equity products on blockchain platforms, offered by firms such as Binance, Franklin Templeton and Ondo, provide round‑the‑clock exposure but differ in custody and redemption structures from standard exchange‑listed shares. The SEC roundtable will collect public comments and publish an agenda before the meeting; no final rule or launch date has been set. The regulator will gather input from exchanges, brokers, investors and other market participants before determining next steps for extended trading hours.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was compromised on Thursday and posted a message promoting a memecoin called Vladhood ($VLAD), which stated that the token would become the official mascot of the Robinhood chain and would be listed within the app.
Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the Arbitrum Orbit stack, launched on July 1 and has become a popular venue for memecoin trading, particularly for the Cashcat token. The network processes roughly six million transactions per day and has recorded about $9 billion in cumulative decentralized exchange volume, according to data from Entropy Advisors.
The post, sent at approximately 17:24 UTC, included a contract address beginning with 0x92d and indicated that 1,868 transactions had occurred since the token was deployed by a user associated with PonsLaunchFactory. A blockchain explorer flagged the token as a potential scam. Tenev had previously posted that the chain "works great for memes too," a statement made prior to the compromise. Robinhood’s official X account later confirmed that Tenev’s account had been hacked, saying that the platform was working with X to restore access and that the post had been removed. An update issued on July 23 confirmed the hack.
The incident underscores the vulnerability of high‑profile social media accounts to crypto‑related misinformation and adds to ongoing concerns about scams targeting memecoin investors.
Coinbase announced that its business customers can accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which was introduced in May 2025 to enable stablecoin transactions over HTTP for AI applications.
The announcement included new AI trading tools that allow users to monitor orders, view live market data and execute actions based on predefined conditions, as well as a software development kit for developers building agent‑powered applications. Coinbase said these products support an “agentic economy,” where AI agents can make payments, manage finances and perform other tasks on behalf of users.
Adoption of AI agents has accelerated, with agent‑generated traffic exceeding human traffic on Coinbase’s Base documentation pages for the first time in the prior month. The company noted that traditional financial infrastructure was built around the assumption that a human clicks a button, a condition that has left businesses, developers and users without tools designed for AI agents.
The rollout follows growing interest from exchanges and payment providers in using stablecoins and blockchain‑based payments as infrastructure for AI agents, a use case that several firms are pursuing. While the new capabilities aim to fill the current gap for AI‑driven transactions, they do not change the existing premise that a human must confirm a payment.
The implementation is expected to affect how businesses integrate AI with financial services, though the long‑term impact on transaction volumes and regulatory considerations remains to be seen.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a public roundtable on September 17 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. to discuss moving toward 24‑hour trading in U.S. equity markets. The meeting will examine preparations to support overnight trading, operational resiliency and regulatory considerations for a continuous market, the SEC said. Chair Paul Atkins said the agency is pursuing alignment with markets that already operate around the clock. Other exchanges are also exploring near‑24‑hour trading. The London Stock Exchange plans a night‑time venue for early 2027, and Nasdaq is working with regulators on a five‑day‑a‑week, around‑the‑clock service targeted for the second half of 2026, pending approval. The roundtable follows Cboe’s announcement of a 24‑hour stock‑trading launch. Regulators and market participants will provide input during the discussion. Outcomes are expected to inform future rulemaking, though no final decision has been made.
Tassat CEO Glen Sussman announced on Thursday that the firm has launched Project NENYA, a stablecoin reserve management platform intended to enable regional and midsize U.S. banks to compete for stablecoin deposits. The pilot is slated to begin in the first half of 2027, with a full launch expected early 2028.
Project NENYA, described as a Smart Reserve Management & Execution Engine, will provide a shared marketplace where regulated stablecoin issuers can allocate reserves across participating banks and tokenized high‑quality liquid assets. Banks would be able to bid for deposits while issuers monitor pricing, liquidity and counterparty exposure, according to a white paper released with the announcement.
The platform does not operate on a blockchain but can interface with tokenized asset and deposit networks, a design Sussman said reduces the technical and compliance burden for smaller banks that lack the infrastructure to serve stablecoin issuers. He told CoinDesk, 'We would love to participate in this. We don’t have the infrastructure. We don’t have the compliance. We wouldn’t even know how to price these reserve deposits.'
Sussman argued that as the stablecoin market expands toward a multi‑trillion‑dollar scale, concentrating reserves among a few large institutions could create liquidity and deposit risks. "If you assume stablecoins scale to $5 trillion or $10 trillion, then there has to be something that helps the market reach equilibrium," he said. "It can’t just live in a really small circle because that will compound the risk on both sides."
Wall Street firms and banks have been expanding stablecoin initiatives following the passage of the GENIUS Act, with Citi projecting the market could reach roughly $4 trillion by 2030. Tassat’s effort aims to broaden participation and mitigate systemic risk in the U.S. banking system.
Bitcoin fell below $65,000 on July 23 after the Trump administration announced tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners, covering more than 99% of U.S. trade, while strong U.S. jobs data and rising Treasury yields added pressure on risk assets. The tariffs were enacted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and replace a temporary 10% global tariff that expires on Friday, July 23, at 12:01 a.m. ET. The administration said the rates depend on each partner’s progress in restricting imports made with forced labor; countries with partial measures face a 10% rate, while those with less progress face 12.5%. Exemptions include crude oil, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, rare‑earth materials, aircraft parts and certain foods, and goods already subject to Section 232 tariffs. The S&P 500 declined about 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite fell roughly 2.2%, reflecting broader risk‑off sentiment in equity markets. Bitcoin traded as low as $64,985 before briefly recovering above $65,000, ending the 24‑hour period about 1.5% lower with a market capitalization near $1.3 trillion. CoinGlass recorded about $162 million in total liquidations of leveraged crypto positions, including roughly $28.7 million in Bitcoin liquidations, of which $26.2 million were long positions. The U.S. initial jobless claims dropped to 187,000 in the week ending July 18, the lowest level since September 1969, prompting traders to reassess expectations for Federal Reserve policy. Traders said the stronger labor data increased the likelihood of a rate increase by September. The 10‑year Treasury yield rose to approximately 4.70%, according to Investors Business Daily, as higher oil prices added to inflation concerns, which traders said increased the attractiveness of traditional assets relative to cryptocurrencies. The tariff announcement has added trade uncertainty to a crypto market already shaped by geopolitical tension, higher oil prices and tighter monetary conditions, leaving the $65,000 level as the immediate test for buyers.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to pay $150,000 in legal fees and will review its record retention practices after settling a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by History Associates, a firm associated with Coinbase, on June 27, 2024. The settlement, reached before any judicial ruling, required the SEC to release two previously withheld documents and to examine how it preserves electronic communications, including text messages. The inspector general found that device-management errors caused the loss of former Chair Gary Gensler’s texts from Oct. 18, 2022, through Sept. 6, 2023, and that the missing messages may qualify as federal records. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal called the outcome a win for transparency, while the scope of the retention review remains unclear. Reuters reported that the agency will fix its record‑retention policies, and Law360 noted that it will share its document‑retention policies. The settlement contains no admission of wrongdoing. Coinbase also filed a motion for partial summary judgment against the SEC over internal document delays and sought expedited discovery and sanctions in a Sept. 11, 2025 filing. Another related case involved Coinbase challenging the FDIC’s handling of crypto‑related bank records, which revealed pause letters. The next concrete signals will be the release of the two documents and any public explanation of the SEC’s preservation review, which will indicate whether the settlement changes how the agency protects and produces records in practice.
Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, transferred $10 million in Bitcoin to the MAGA Inc. political action committee on June 19, according to the PAC’s July filing with the Federal Election Commission. The transfer followed a joint motion filed by Gemini and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in May to overturn a January 2025 settlement in which Gemini was alleged to have made false or misleading statements. The CFTC has not yet issued a decision on the motion. The $10 million contribution consists of two separate transfers of more than $5 million each, recorded on June 19. In addition, each Winklevoss brother contributed $1 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and supported his candidacy through social media posts. After Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the twins attended the signing of the GENIUS Act, a bill governing stablecoin payments, and contributed $21 million in Bitcoin to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC. As of the end of June, MAGA Inc. reported having received more than $397 million in total. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to CFTC Chair Michael Selig expressing concern that the joint motion and related actions might indicate regulatory capture. The CFTC, which currently has one commissioner, has not announced any new nominations. The court decision on the CFTC‑Gemini motion remains pending, and the agency has not responded to inquiries about the recent Bitcoin donation.
South Korea's Korbit, the nation's first homegrown cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has become part of the Mirae Asset Group family. Mirae Asset Consulting, an affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, now holds a 97.15% stake in Korbit, making it the exchange's largest shareholder. The transaction was completed through mandatory regulatory reporting and does not change the operating entity or user services. Korbit's login, trading, deposit and withdrawal functions will continue unchanged. User assets remain held separately from corporate assets in line with South Korea's Virtual Asset Users Protection Act. Personal data processing also remains unchanged and requires no action from users. The acquisition reflects a growing trend of traditional financial firms entering the crypto market, especially in South Korea where retail trading volumes rival stock exchange activity. Similar moves have been seen in Asia, including SBI Group's agreement to acquire Bitbank and its majority stake in Coinhako. Binance reported holding about 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading volume, with net inflows in early July, while the overall market experienced outflows.
Crypto vault market reached $131 billion in April 2026, up from $24 billion three years earlier, as firms such as Bitwise, Coinbase and Kraken expand onchain lending and yield products. The Securities and Exchange Commission has softened its enforcement stance under the current administration, creating a Crypto Task Force to clarify rules. Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that vaults and onchain lending arrangements may fall under securities law depending on how they are structured and who controls asset decisions. The SEC said that products that rely on professional managers to select, reallocate or oversee customer assets present a higher risk of being deemed investment contracts, because managerial discretion can create a common enterprise with an expectation of profit. Larry Florio, deputy general counsel of Ethena Labs, noted that the distinction between automated smart‑contract vaults and actively managed vaults is central to the regulatory analysis. Coinbase, through its Morpho integration, now offers USDC lending via two strategies curated by Steakhouse Financial, while Kraken launched a Bitcoin vault that allocates assets across Aave and Morpho, delivering variable returns up to 2.5 percent. Bitwise, a $15 billion asset manager, introduced its first onchain vault in January, with its investment team setting collateral and allocation rules. Deposits in crypto vaults have grown rapidly, reaching about $131 billion and representing 94 percent of activity in staking, lending and yield aggregation. S&P Global Ratings projects that assets in professionally managed vaults could double this year and described the products as potential “ETFs 2.0,” noting they could resemble private credit, private equity, money‑market fund or hedge‑fund functions. While the SEC has moved away from aggressive litigation against crypto lenders, Peirce emphasized that the agency’s retreat does not mean securities laws are inapplicable; firms should engage with the commission to ensure compliance rather than rely on “gymnastic” arguments. The commission’s Crypto Task Force is charged with defining registration pathways and shaping enforcement policy, and it has invited industry participants to discuss whether current rules need adaptation for onchain finance. The SEC’s advisory stance leaves the regulatory landscape uncertain, as vault operators must assess whether their structures trigger securities‑law obligations while the market continues to expand.
BitMEX, a Seychelles‑incorporated crypto derivatives exchange, announced that it will shut down operations on September 23 2026 and told users to close positions and withdraw funds immediately.
Founded in 2014, BitMEX pioneered the perpetual swap contract and, at its peak in 2019, processed more than $1 trillion in annual trading volume, representing about 57 % of the global crypto derivatives market.
In an email to account holders, BitMEX said new registrations have been halted and that all open contracts will be forcibly closed before the deadline. Users who fail to withdraw assets by September 23 will be charged a $50 monthly maintenance fee or a 1 % annual levy. The company attributed the decision to a strategic business review by its parent, HDR Global Trading Limited, and to the migration of liquidity to more agile platforms.
To manage the shutdown, BitMEX will impose strict limits on new positions starting August 26 and will systematically close remaining contracts through September 23. The firm noted that transferring user assets may be delayed because of Bitcoin network congestion, but said its proof‑of‑reserves demonstrate that liabilities fully cover customer assets.
BitMEX’s security record remained clean, with no reported loss of user funds to hacks or smart‑contract exploits despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny, and the resignation of its CEO, CFO and head of growth three weeks earlier preceded the announcement.
The wind‑down ends an 11‑year era for a major derivatives venue and may reshape trading flows within the crypto market.
Proof of reserves (PoR) emerged after the 2022 FTX collapse as a method for exchanges to demonstrate that customer assets are fully backed. Exchanges use onchain wallet ownership proofs and cryptographic tools such as Merkle trees and zero‑knowledge proofs to show that total assets equal total liabilities, with a reserve ratio of at least 100 percent.
The PoR process consists of two parts. Proof of assets verifies that an exchange controls the wallets it claims, typically through cryptographic signatures. Proof of liabilities aggregates user balances and can be verified by each user via Merkle proofs or zero‑knowledge proofs, while independent auditors confirm the aggregate liability figures.
Limitations of PoR include its snapshot nature, which only covers onchain assets at a single point in time and does not reveal offchain or fiat holdings, hidden liabilities, or the possibility that wallet keys are duplicated. Therefore PoR alone does not guarantee comprehensive solvency.
Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has made reserve transparency a central competitive factor. It open‑sourced its zk‑SNARK based PoR verification system, enabling other exchanges to adopt the same method. Binance’s Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) holds roughly $1 billion in onchain assets, providing an additional buffer. Its disclosures show stablecoin reserves—including USDT and USDC—exceeding 100 percent, and the exchange holds the largest stablecoin reserves among peers.
Institutional participants require additional safeguards beyond PoR. They seek asset segregation to prevent commingling of customer funds with exchange assets, regulatory oversight to reduce compliance risk, and defined insolvency protections such as insurance or emergency reserves. These measures aim to address the gaps identified after the FTX failure.
The industry is moving toward continuous, cryptographically verified assurance and greater alignment with regulatory standards. Exchanges that demonstrate over‑collateralization and maintain open verification tools are positioned to earn institutional trust.
Uniswap announced on Thursday that it is launching Permissioned Pools, a framework that lets tokenized fund issuers restrict trading to approved investors while using its automated market maker. Developers at Uniswap Labs said the new pools allow issuers of tokenized assets to enforce compliance rules onchain, eliminating the need for separate offchain checks. Ken Ng, head of ecosystem at Uniswap Labs, said the feature provides a flexible way for issuers to trade on Uniswap without building separate infrastructure. Launch partners include tokenization firms Securitize and Superstate, as well as European digital securities platform Dowgo, all of which plan to use the pools for regulated onchain assets. The pools verify that a wallet has been approved by the asset issuer before any trade or liquidity deposit can occur, allowing eligible investors to trade through Uniswap while issuers retain control over who can participate. Robert Leshner, CEO of Superstate, told CoinDesk that moving compliance rules into the pool itself enables regulated assets to tap real AMM liquidity without giving up required securities controls. Uniswap has been expanding its support for institutional tokenized assets, following BlackRock's BUIDL money market fund, which became tradable on the protocol in February after being issued by Securitize. The broader DeFi sector is adapting to institutional demand, with Aave launching Horizon for tokenized lending and analysts projecting tokenized securities could reach a $5.5 trillion market by 2030. The development marks a step toward integrating traditional finance regulations with decentralized trading infrastructure.
Coinbase announced on July 23, 2026 that its Business and Agent platforms will enable businesses to accept USDC payments initiated by autonomous AI agents via the native x402 payment standard. The rollout includes new commands in Coinbase for Agents that provide real-time market data and conditional trading actions, and a CDP x402 SDK for developers to integrate agent payment acceptance into APIs, Model Context Protocol servers or web services. Coinbase said businesses can receive, track, reconcile and cash out USDC payments from AI agents within the same account, and it offers a 3.35% annual reward rate on eligible idle USDC balances, subject to regional variation. Payments are chargeback‑free because Coinbase does not act as a party to the transactions. The feature is currently available to Coinbase Business users in the United States and Singapore, with region‑specific availability and reward rates. Prior related releases include Amazon’s integration of x402 into Bedrock AgentCore Payments in May and the launch of Agentic.market in April. Coinbase noted that software‑generated traffic exceeded human traffic on its Base documentation pages in June, indicating growing demand for automated payment workflows. The company has not disclosed expected payment volume from the new capability.
MoonPay has added Discover Network as a payment option for U.S. customers to buy and sell cryptocurrency. The addition makes Discover the third major U.S. card network supported by MoonPay, alongside Visa and Mastercard. MoonPay also supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, bank transfers and other regional payment methods. Discover has been less active in crypto partnerships compared with Visa and Mastercard, which have long collaborated with crypto firms. While Discover cards are accepted on some platforms such as CEX.IO and Sardine, MoonPay's announcement expands support to its own service. Eligibility for using a Discover card for crypto purchases depends on the issuing bank's transaction policies. Richard Harrison, vice president of banking and payments partnerships at MoonPay, said the company aims to let users pay for crypto the way they pay for other purchases. Capital One completed its $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services in 2023 after announcing the deal in February 2024, and earlier in April it finished a $5.15 billion purchase of fintech firm Brex, which handles stablecoin payments. Founded in 2019, MoonPay serves over 30 million customers worldwide and partners with more than 500 enterprise clients in crypto and fintech. The company launched MoonPay Agents earlier this year, a non‑custodial infrastructure that enables AI agents to create wallets and execute transactions. MoonPay's investors include Tiger Global Management, Coatue, Justin Bieber and Paris Hilton, and it raised a $555 million Series A in 2021 at a $3.4 billion valuation. The firm secured a $200 million revolving credit line from Galaxy last year and reported ending 2024 cash‑flow positive with an 112% increase in net revenue.
Research from the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA) estimated that the crypto industry contributed $55 billion to the U.S. economy in 2026, based on direct, indirect and induced employment. The estimate was published in a report released Wednesday by the Pragmatic Policy Group on behalf of the NCA. The study attributes $9.7 billion to securities and commodity contracts and $4.8 billion to housing and real estate. It found that 34,000 people were directly employed by crypto companies, while the sector supported a total of 232,000 jobs. Direct employment exceeds that of coffee and tea manufacturing and aerospace industries according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report identified Texas, Washington, North Carolina, California and New York as the states with the most crypto‑related employment, and noted Colorado’s emergence as a growing blockchain hub and North Dakota’s development as an energy‑integrated digital infrastructure hub. Several firms announced closures in 2026, including Entropy, a New York‑based start‑up, Dmail, a Singapore‑based decentralized email platform, and the governance platform Tally and the services provider Balancer Labs. The NCA, a nonprofit launched in March 2025 with $50 million in backing from Ripple Labs and led by Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty, presented the findings.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is unlikely to clear the Senate before the summer recess that begins after the July 23 session, but he hopes to begin floor considerations before the break. The legislation aims to provide a permanent legal framework for U.S. crypto activity and had targeted August 7 for floor action to permit a 2026 passage. Thune indicated the bill may start its Senate floor process before the recess, though limited floor time and competing priorities, including a sanctions bill on Russian leadership and tariffs legislation championed by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, could delay action. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said the first week of August remains possible and expressed optimism that the Senate could act then. The bill has faced bipartisan criticism over provisions that would restrict senior government officials, including former President Donald Trump, from certain crypto business activities; Democrats have opposed those limits while some Republicans have raised concerns about stablecoin yield rules and ethics language. The Senate requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and current prospects for a majority are uncertain as some GOP senators have expressed reservations. Senator Cynthia Lummis said contentious sections remain open for revision and could attract Democratic support. Crypto market data showed Binance holding about 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading in early July, while other tracked markets experienced outflows. The outlook for the Clarity Act remains uncertain as the Senate schedules limited floor time before the election‑focused summer break and the House will need to act after any Senate passage.
Coinbase said on July 23 that businesses using Coinbase Business can now accept payments from AI agents through the x402 protocol, which operates with USDC and requires no additional configuration. The announcement addresses a gap in the emerging AI agent economy, where autonomous software programs could previously not transact directly with merchants. The x402 protocol, developed by Coinbase, enables an agent to create its own wallet, read Coinbase developer documentation, and make payments on behalf of a merchant. Merchants can list inventory items that agents can purchase via the checkout flow, according to the press release. Coinbase Business users will see a live order list that streams an agent’s open and active orders, displaying status, price and size in real time, allowing users to monitor autonomous trading activity. For developers, the Coinbase Developer Platform introduced an x402 SDK that can be integrated into any API, MCP server, or web service with three lines of code, enabling payment acceptance for agents. Coinbase said that the same WebSocket market data used by institutional traders is now accessible through natural‑language commands such as “buy ETH if it dips 5%.” The rollout marks Coinbase’s effort to expand the utility of its platform beyond trading, but it remains to be seen how widely AI agents will adopt the new payment capability.
Bitget announced on July 23 that it has completed registration as a Financial Service Provider in New Zealand, covering five business categories: foreign currency exchange, domestic and cross‑border money transfers, client asset custody, portfolio and money management, and execution of financial products or foreign exchange transactions for clients.
The registration does not constitute a license or active supervision by New Zealand regulators, and certain services require separate approvals from the Financial Markets Authority or the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, according to the Companies Office. Bitget also joined the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman dispute resolution scheme, which provides a formal complaint process for consumers.
In addition to the New Zealand registration, Bitget operates under a Digital Asset Service Provider license in El Salvador and an authorization from South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which it says support its operations under separate national rules. The exchange clarified that it is not licensed, approved, registered, authorized, or supervised by Singapore’s Monetary Authority and therefore restricts platform access for Singapore residents.
Bitget plans to re‑enter the United States market by establishing an independent local entity and obtaining money‑transmitter, derivatives and broker‑dealer approvals, though no launch date has been set, and its entry will depend on completing those processes. CEO Gracy Chen said the company will continue to meet local regulatory requirements as it expands globally, noting that tokenized‑stock products represented 20%‑30% of spot trading volume in the previous quarter and accounted for assets exceeding $100 million, with more than half of its users holding both stocks and cryptocurrencies.
The New Zealand registration adds another jurisdiction to Bitget’s compliance network while its U.S. expansion and Singapore restrictions remain pending regulatory clearance.
Tesla recorded a $112 million unrealized loss on its digital‑asset holdings in the second quarter of 2026, reducing GAAP earnings by $87 million after tax. The decline reflects the broader fall in cryptocurrency values since March 31, 2026, when the carrying value of Tesla’s crypto assets was $786 million. FASB standards require periodic fair‑value revaluation of crypto holdings, with changes recognized in net income. Tesla’s March 31 filing showed that Bitcoin made up most of its digital assets, comprising 11,509 BTC purchased for $386 million. The June 30 shareholder update indicated the asset balance had fallen to $674 million. The $674 million balance represented about 0.45% of Tesla’s total assets of $148.5 billion at quarter‑end. The loss did not affect cash flow or operational activities. Adjusted EBITDA of $3.273 billion for the quarter excluded the loss, which was added back in the reconciliation. Future earnings may continue to fluctuate with crypto price movements unless Tesla changes its accounting treatment or discloses further asset movements.