BitMart will cease trading on its platform on Aug. 26 and fully wind down operations on Jan. 31, 2027, after nine years of service, a move that sent its BMX token down about 58% in 24 hours.

The exchange, which reported roughly $1.6 billion in 24‑hour trading volume and a market share of about 55% of user funds, had seen its token decline roughly 70% over the past year, with the recent drop extending that trend.

BitMart halted new registrations, deposits and trading orders at 01:30 UTC on July 26, moved futures accounts to reduce‑only mode, and will end all spot and derivative trading on Aug. 26. Withdrawals will stay open, though users are urged to complete additional identity verification and submit withdrawal requests before the August deadline; processing times may increase if request volume spikes.

BitMart said the decision was based on operating conditions, market environment, and future strategic direction, offering no further detail. BMX fell to approximately $0.08, cutting its market value to about $27 million, after a 58% decline in one day and a cumulative decline of roughly 70% over the previous 12 months.

The closure follows a similar announcement by BitMEX, which plans to shut down after 11 years, marking the second exchange to announce an end to operations this week. BitMart previously suffered a $196 million hot‑wallet breach in December 2021, which it covered for affected customers.

The exchange reported a considerable trading volume and a large share of user funds, suggesting that the shutdown could affect market liquidity as participants may shift assets to other platforms; however, the rise in reported volume in the period preceding the announcement appears driven by users moving assets rather than new demand.

The wind‑down leaves a gap in the crypto trading landscape, and the speed at which users can withdraw assets before the August cutoff will determine the scale of the transition.

KB Kookmin Bank will launch a blockchain-based cross-border payment service for import and export companies in August 2026, initially supporting U.S. dollar transfers across ten countries. The service uses Kinexys, a blockchain platform originally developed by J.P. Morgan and previously known as Onyx, to link blockchain settlement with the SWIFT messaging network. Kinexys enables approved institutions to move funds without waiting for traditional banking cut‑off times, and it operates around the clock. KB Kookmin announced the service on July 26 after signing an agreement with J.P. Morgan for blockchain remittance services, and Yonhap News Agency reported that it will become the first South Korean financial institution to use Kinexys for payment services aimed at import and export companies. The initial phase will focus on U.S. dollar payments and will support ten markets: South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and South Africa. Customers will access the service through KB Kookmin branches in South Korea and its Singapore branch. The bank has not published details on fees, transaction limits or an exact launch date. The service will not replace SWIFT; instead it will connect Kinexys with existing correspondent banking channels, allowing banks to use blockchain for faster movement and settlement while retaining established compliance checks, account structures and foreign‑exchange processes. J.P. Morgan describes Kinexys as a bank‑led platform for payments, asset tokenisation and near‑real‑time settlement. Qatar National Bank adopted Kinexys for U.S. dollar payments in 2025, reporting that the system enabled corporate transfers outside normal banking hours and reduced settlement times to minutes. KB Financial Group, ranked as South Korea’s largest lender by assets in a 2026 S&P Global Market Intelligence Asia‑Pacific review, has approximately $552.76 billion in assets and participates in South Korea’s tokenised deposit project, which the Ministry of Economy and Finance selected for a test linking tokenised deposits with government spending systems. KB Kookmin Card is developing a payment system that links stablecoins with traditional credit cards, using Avalanche and OpenAsset infrastructure, allowing users to pay from stablecoin wallets while merchants settle with standard card transactions. In May, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Ripple and Ondo Finance tested a cross‑border Treasury redemption, with Kinexys handling payment instructions and U.S. dollar settlement while a tokenised asset moved on the XRP Ledger. In July, EBANX reported that the platform reduced some internal cross‑border transfers from more than 24 hours to minutes by removing local cut‑off restrictions. The August rollout will show how the service operates alongside existing SWIFT processes for commercial payments, and KB has not indicated whether it will add additional currencies or countries after the initial phase.

Storj Labs, a decentralized cloud storage provider, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of West Virginia on Sunday. The company said it will keep its network running and continue customer services under court oversight while its parent, Inveniam, provides support. Storj noted that its liabilities predate its current strategy and are too large to resolve through growth alone. It added that the network operates normally and the STORJ token’s utility remains unchanged, with the price trading around $0.072 and showing no significant reaction. Management intends to propose a mechanism that would let tokenholders participate in equity of the reorganized company, though details on eligibility, token snapshots, lock‑up periods and equity allocation have not been disclosed. The plan must follow bankruptcy priorities and receive court approval. The filing follows similar Chapter 11 actions by Movement Labs, which filed under Subchapter V on July 15, and Poolin, which filed on July 22. Other crypto firms such as BitMEX and BitMart have pursued wind‑downs without filing for bankruptcy. The outcome of Storj’s restructuring will determine whether tokenholders can influence ownership of a company emerging from bankruptcy, a question that remains undetermined.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an advisory on July 26, 2026, reminding prediction‑market firms that they must submit specific, individual contract details rather than broad template certifications.

The CFTC, which oversees derivatives and has asserted jurisdiction over platforms such as Kalshi, Coinbase, Polymarket and Crypto.com, said that its authority to evaluate event contracts remains under legal review.

The agency warned that filings lacking the terms and conditions for each contract permutation, along with concise analyses of the underlying commodity, the product’s compliance, and settlement methodology, hinder its ability to determine whether firms have met required information and analytical standards. The CFTC emphasized that while closely related contracts may be grouped for consolidated filings, generic certifications that cover many events are unacceptable. The regulator noted that many designated contract markets currently self‑certify broad templates without supplying the necessary specifics. The warning follows a similar advisory issued months earlier and comes amid ongoing litigation about the CFTC’s regulatory scope, including state actions alleging illegal sports gambling. The advisory also extended the dormant status of Kraken’s derivatives exchange, allowing the platform to remain registered pending further activity. Kraken, which acquired Bitnomial earlier this year, said it will take additional time to assess its strategy.

The CFTC’s guidance underscores the need for clearer regulatory standards as the prediction‑market sector continues to expand across sports and political outcomes.

Europe's MiCA regulatory framework is moving into a new phase that could spur mergers and acquisitions among crypto firms, as compliance costs increase and banks consider integrating crypto activities into their existing operations.

The MiCA rulebook, which extends beyond licensing to include comprehensive prudential and client asset requirements, has raised the cost of long‑term compliance for smaller crypto companies. In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority's proposed framework would embed crypto firms within the same regulatory structure that governs traditional financial institutions, subjecting them to familiar prudential, operational and client asset standards.

Steven Lightstone, a partner at Morgan Lewis, said the FCA proposal includes high standards for consumer protection and that obtaining FCA authorization will remain challenging for crypto firms. He added that integrating crypto firms into existing rules will still be difficult.

Simon Schneider, CEO of Sygnum Europe, said less than 20% of European banks currently provide crypto services, but MiCA's legal certainty may encourage broader adoption. Schneider noted that after Switzerland introduced its distributed ledger technology legislation, about three‑quarters of the country's leading banks began offering digital asset services, illustrating a potential path for Europe.

Lightstone added that the FCA's client asset regime, which requires segregation of client crypto assets under trust arrangements, could prompt crypto firms to merge with or be acquired by firms already subject to the CASS framework.

The shift toward regulated institutions may redefine competitive advantage in the crypto sector, moving it from the speed of lean startups to scale and compliance capability, while market data show Binance retaining a majority of user funds and spot trading share and recording net inflows in early July.

Bitcoin stayed near $64,000 after two consecutive weeks of options contracts expired. Deribit, which handles most crypto options trading, saw about 19,000 contracts valued at roughly $1.2 billion expire on Friday. The exchange calculated max pain at $64,500, while Bitcoin closed at $64,140. The prior week’s expiry had a max pain level of $63,000 and Bitcoin rose toward $65,400 afterward, indicating no consistent price movement from the metric. Thin demand for Bitcoin on both spot and derivatives markets was evident, with sellers posting higher order flow on Thursday and Friday, according to CryptoQuant. The Coinbase premium index slipped to a 0.088% discount, the widest since July 16, reflecting reduced US buying pressure. Leveraged long positions were liquidated for $45.9 million while short positions were liquidated for $7.4 million, a six‑to‑one disparity, though overall leverage stayed modest. Funding rates averaged 0.0038% across exchanges on Friday, down from 0.0064% five days earlier and near neutral. Open interest on futures and perpetual contracts rose to $22.35 billion, up from $21.26 billion at the previous expiry, even as the spot price fell 1.5%. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $225.2 million in outflows on Thursday, ending a seven‑session inflow that approached $1 billion; BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for $202.5 million of the reversal. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index fell to 28, and implied volatility declined toward 35% amid heightened US‑Iran tensions. Deribit’s chief commercial officer described a single block trade that bought 20,000 $70,000 calls and sold 20,000 $72,000 calls, a position with about $2.5 billion of gross notional value. The trade profits if Bitcoin finishes above $70,000 and limits gains beyond $72,000, and was set ahead of the July 31 monthly expiry. Institutional trader Jimmy Yang of Orbit Markets said the position reflected expectations that the CLARITY Act would pass, a probability that Polymarket now assigns at roughly 35%. The expiry occurs two days after the Federal Reserve’s July 28‑29 meeting, where the statement’s wording will be the primary signal; futures markets assign about a one‑in‑three chance of a quarter‑point rate increase and effectively zero chance of a cut. Deribit’s model gives a 14.5% probability that Bitcoin will touch $70,000 during July and 4.1% for $72,000, implying less than a one‑in‑six chance that the large bet will finish in the money. Gamma exposure concentrates near $65,000 and $72,000, with the larger cluster having minimal influence until price approaches it. Overall, the market’s range is being set by spot traders, and very few participants have entered new positions this week.

BitMart said it will gradually suspend new registrations, deposits and orders and halt all spot, futures and other trading services at 01:00 UTC on Aug. 26, with full trading platform operations ceasing at 15:59 UTC on Jan. 31, 2027. The exchange will retain login access for a period after that date to allow users to view records and submit withdrawal requests.

The notice, published at 9:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, said the decision followed an evaluation of operating conditions, market environment and future strategic direction. All spot and futures trading will stop at the scheduled time, and BitMart will place futures accounts in reduce‑only mode, discontinue copy, grid and API trading, and end BitMart Earn, staking, lending and Launchpad products. Withdrawals remain available, but users are advised to close positions by 01:00 UTC and submit withdrawal requests by 05:00 UTC on Aug. 26; later requests will be processed separately and may undergo additional reviews.

BMX, the exchange’s token, traded near $0.066 on Sunday, a decline of nearly 60 % over the previous 24 hours according to CoinGecko data. Global CEO Nenter (Nathan) Chow said on X that the company informed him on July 24 that his employment was being terminated and that his off‑boarding would begin immediately. Chow said he had played no role in management since that date, was not consulted on the wind‑down, and learned of it when it became public. He declined to comment further and said he was concerned for users and employees, urging customers to rely only on official channels.

BitMart, founded eight years ago, serves more than 13 million users in over 180 countries and territories and secured an Australian Financial Services Licence in May. The company previously reported a 256 % period‑over‑period increase in assets under management and outlined plans to expand prediction markets, tokenized assets and regulatory footprint. The shutdown marks a reversal from earlier public statements and follows a similar announcement by BitMEX to close permanently on Sept. 23. Binance co‑founder Changpeng Zhao described the announcement as “tough times (again)” on X, noting the process appeared orderly.

Garden Finance said an independent solver’s off‑chain database was compromised, causing its cross‑chain bridge and atomic swap protocol to pause services temporarily after about $450,000 in USDT was drained from hash time‑locked contracts across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and BNB Smart Chain. HTLCs are time‑bound escrow contracts used for atomic swaps between Bitcoin and other assets. Blockaid reported the exploit and identified addresses linked to the attacker, while Garden Finance said the protocol and its HTLC smart contracts were not compromised. The attacker allegedly accessed the off‑chain database of a solver and inserted fraudulent transaction records, resulting in the release of funds that had not been funded by the counterparty. Garden Finance said user funds were not lost or at risk and that only solver‑owned assets were affected. Services were paused as a precaution while the compromised infrastructure was isolated and reviewed. Blockaid responded to a request for comment. Garden Finance said it is cooperating with security firms zeroShadow, Quantstamp and Blockaid to trace and recover the funds and is relying on a recent SOC 2 Type II attestation to demonstrate its security controls. The company said it expects to restore services after completing security reviews without providing a timeline. A prior October 2025 incident saw about $11.4 million stolen from a solver, also without affecting user funds or the protocol contracts. The incident highlights the risks associated with off‑chain components in decentralized finance systems. Garden Finance said it will continue monitoring the situation and resume operations once verification is complete.

POSCO International, South Korea's largest trading company, began a pilot program to tokenize trade receivables on the Injective blockchain in partnership with LG CNS, aiming to accelerate payments among its global subsidiaries. The test uses real trade data and is scheduled to move to live production after completion later this year.

The pilot creates a single shared ledger that embeds compliance rules, reducing reconciliation times that traditionally take days. Tokenization expands beyond funds and equities, a trend that has seen assets under management rise to $35 billion and projected to reach $5.5 trillion by 2030. South Korea has been active in corporate blockchain adoption, with Hyundai using stablecoins for internal treasury transfers and Circle partnering with Korean firms on payment infrastructure. LG CNS has experience with central bank digital currency pilots and tokenization platforms for KOSCOM and Mirae Asset Securities.

POSCO International, which reported $22.2 billion in revenue last year across steel, energy and battery materials, issued, transferred and settled receivables on layer‑1 blockchain Injective, according to a press briefing. The blockchain network, native token INJ priced at $4.9149, provides a shared record that can be transferred and settled while carrying compliance rules embedded in the asset. A POSCO spokesperson said the proof‑of‑concept validated the applicability of AI and blockchain technology using real trade data and processes. The company plans to expand the initiative into full production after the pilot ends.

The pilot reflects broader corporate interest in blockchain for trade finance, a use case that could improve working‑capital efficiency for multinational firms. The outcome of the test may influence future adoption of blockchain in global supply chains.

Hashdex disclosed on July 23 that its Nasdaq CME Crypto Index ETF (NCIQ) will allocate a portion of its crypto holdings to staking, with net staking revenue distributed to shareholders after an annual threshold. The plan follows a Form 8‑K filing that names Coinbase Cloud as the initial staking provider and indicates that staking is expected to commence promptly, pending operational readiness. Under the July 23 prospectus supplement, the staking provider retains its share of gross rewards. Hashdex receives all remaining net staking income up to a threshold equal to 0.25% of the common‑share net asset value through one Sponsor Share, an unlisted class held solely by the sponsor. Income exceeding that threshold is split 40% to Hashdex and 60% to the trust for holders of publicly traded NCIQ common shares. The threshold is measured annually and prorated for partial years. If net staking income does not exceed the threshold, no amount is allocated to the trust. For example, if net staking income reached 1% of common‑share NAV after provider fees over a full year, the trust would receive 0.45% and Hashdex would retain 0.55%, consisting of the first 0.25% and 40% of the remaining 0.75 percentage point. These figures are illustrative and not a forecast. The sponsor share return is separate from NCIQ’s 0.25% annual management fee and is not netted against it. Hashdex lists fee percentages for staking rewards: 8% of gross ether staking rewards, 8% of Solana validator commissions, and 5% of Cardano validator commissions, as shown on its product page. As of July 26, NCIQ’s holdings consisted of 11.75% Ethereum, 3.17% Solana, and 0.49% Cardano, representing a combined 15.41% of the fund, though this amount is not the portion intended for staking. The fund targets a staking allocation of 10% to 20% of total net asset value. Risks include temporary asset lock‑up during unbonding periods, potential reductions in rewards from validator failures or slashing, and possible complications in redemption and rebalancing that could widen the tracking difference between NCIQ’s net asset value and its underlying price index. The filing does not quantify the magnitude of any tracking difference, leaving the impact on shareholder returns uncertain.

Strategy, the software company formerly known as MicroStrategy, said its internal BTC rating could remain at 1.0x even if Bitcoin falls 11.4% per year for 5.8 consecutive years. The company’s stress test, which uses a metric called BTC Floor ARR, defines the lowest constant annual Bitcoin return that preserves 1.0x coverage of net debt and preferred stock over the weighted duration of its credit structure. With a cash reserve of $3.225 billion and annual interest and dividend obligations of about $1.7 billion, the cash would cover less than two years of payments without additional financing or Bitcoin sales. Strategy holds 843,775 BTC, purchased at an average price of $75,476, for a total cost of roughly $63.69 billion. The firm announced that, at its current capital structure, Bitcoin could decline 11.4% annually for 5.8 years while still funding interest and preferred dividends and maintaining a 1.0x BTC rating. The metric is an internal, illustrative measure and not a credit rating from an external agency; it does not assess liquidity, solvency or overall financial performance. Strategy’s Digital Credit Capital Framework allows up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales to support the cash reserve, fund dividends, interest and share repurchases, and the company raised its preferred dividend rate to 12% while approving separate $1 billion buyback programs for common and preferred securities. Recent activity included the sale of 3,588 BTC for about $216 million between June 29 and July 5, reducing its Bitcoin holdings, and the issuance of $263.5 million in common‑stock proceeds. The stress test reflects the company’s view of how long its assets could support its financing structure under a steady Bitcoin decline and does not predict Bitcoin’s price direction or guarantee that all obligations will be met under all market conditions.

Cardano co‑founder Charles Hoskinson said Bitcoin could lose its position as the largest cryptocurrency if its governance system cannot coordinate a timely quantum‑secure upgrade. The comment was made in an interview with The Starting Block published on July 24, 2026.

Bitcoin relies on elliptic‑curve cryptography to prove ownership of funds. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could derive private keys from exposed public keys and authorize transactions without the owner’s approval, a risk that the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has identified and begun to standardize against.

Hoskinson described Bitcoin as frozen in time because major changes require consensus among developers, miners, node operators and users. He said Cardano’s on‑chain voting system, established through the Plomin hard fork in January 2025, provides a clearer path for approving upgrades.

Bitcoin developers have explored post‑quantum migration options, including BIP 361, which proposes a phased transition away from current ECDSA and Schnorr signatures. Other proposals cover new address formats, hybrid signatures and recovery mechanisms. Implementing any change would require wallets, exchanges, custodians and long‑dormant holders to move funds without creating network splits.

Cardano’s governance allows ADA holders to vote directly or delegate to representatives. The system can approve hard forks and treasury withdrawals on‑chain, but recent disputes have seen delegates challenge proposals linked to Hoskinson and Input Output.

Hoskinson also said Cardano is preparing its largest upgrade, estimating throughput could increase 60‑fold with the Ouroboros Leios design. The estimate is based on development testing and has not been verified on the live network.

Both networks continue to study cryptographic transitions. The practical test will be reaching agreement on secure post‑quantum cryptography and coordinating the movement of users and funds across the ecosystem.