Crypto projects lost more than $1 billion to hacks in the first half of 2026, with a record number of exploit incidents, according to Blockaid. The firm’s report released Tuesday said the number of incidents was the highest recorded for any six‑month period, though total dollar losses were lower than the $1.5 billion lost in the year‑earlier Bybit exploit. North Korea‑linked actors were identified as responsible for the largest share of stolen funds, accounting for $285 million in the Drift exploit and $292 million in the KelpDAO exploit. Blockaid expects attacks linked to North Korea to continue, noting that LinkedIn‑based social engineering leading to multisig signer compromise contributed to two of the four largest incidents. Immunefi reported $972 million lost across 207 incidents, while Quill Audits recorded $935.3 million lost in 87 DeFi hacks during the same period. DeFi losses have fallen 74 % from their 2022 peak. Ethereum and Solana were the most affected chains, with $332 million and $326 million in losses respectively; Ethereum suffered mega code exploits targeting high‑value protocols, while Solana attacks focused on signer infrastructure. Blockaid predicts a rise in artificial intelligence‑related exploits in the second half of 2026, with prompt injection and tool‑use abuse expected to increase.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, regulation, and the forces moving digital assets.
BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs and SoFi have publicly backed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, legislation that would set a new regulatory framework for U.S. crypto assets and clarify the responsibilities of the SEC and CFTC. The endorsements come as the Senate works to advance the bill before its August recess. The legislation has exposed a split within traditional finance. Asset managers and some banks support the measure, while JPMorgan Chase has advocated for modifications to stablecoin rules that it says could advantage issuers over traditional deposits. Coinbase and other crypto firms contend the changes would weaken the bill and slow U.S. digital asset development. Franklin Templeton wrote on X that the legislation would clarify crypto regulation and give investors certainty. Fidelity said the act would provide clear rules of the road to strengthen investor confidence and reinforce U.S. leadership in digital asset markets. BlackRock senior managing director Samara Cohen told Politico that the bill is an important step toward a regulatory framework that puts investors first and shapes the next era of market structure. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the act, while not perfect, would create a level playing field and enhance market stability, allowing crypto markets to develop appropriately. SoFi CEO Anthony Noto noted that durable rules are critical for U.S. global competitiveness, protect consumers and allow safe building under domestic regulation. Updated legislative text released last week merged House and Senate versions and introduced ethics restrictions for senior officials involved in crypto matters, a point of contention as lawmakers debate the scope of the proposal relative to President Donald Trump’s crypto business interests. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has shifted focus to judicial nominations and a Russia sanctions package, leaving the Clarity Act without scheduled floor time. The Senate is set to begin its summer recess on August 8, giving legislators only a few days to act before the break. Because the bill must pass before the August 8 recess, its fate remains uncertain as the Senate agenda is currently dominated by other priorities.
A two‑minute flash crash in a Hyperliquid perpetual contract that tracks the dollar value of one SK Hynix share caused the contract price to dip to $927 during South Korea’s pre‑market session before rebounding. The contract, called SKHX and operated by TradeXYZ, uses an oracle supplied by Pyth Lazer and a margin system provided by HyperCore. Open interest was reported at $407 million, a 20 percent decline over 24 hours, while 24‑hour trading volume reached $959 million, according to DefiLlama. South Korea’s KOSPI fell 10.84 percent after a 20‑minute circuit breaker was triggered, and SK Hynix’s Korean shares closed 14.65 percent lower at 1.55 million won, Yonhap reported. The contract’s pricing window runs from 8:00 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. Korean time, and the price is derived from the Korean share price converted at the prevailing USD/KRW rate. TradeXYZ’s relayers update the oracle, mark and external prices roughly every three seconds, while HyperCore matches orders, applies margin, and performs liquidations and auto‑deleveraging. The HIP‑3 deployment rules allow anyone who stakes $20 million to create a perpetual contract, giving the deployer control over oracle settings and price definitions. TradeXYZ said its investigation was ongoing and that an update would follow once a conclusion was reached. No official incident report, insurance details, trading halt, or slashing mechanism had been published at the time of the report. The episode exposed uncertainty around the published pricing methodology and raised questions about the adequacy of existing risk controls in decentralized perpetual markets.
European financial institutions have launched Regulated Layer One (RL1), a cooperative blockchain network for regulated finance, headquartered in Luxembourg. The network was created by ten banks that formed a European Cooperative Society under Luxembourg law. RL1 operates as a permissioned blockchain built on technology originally developed by the German fintech Secure Worldwide Interbank Asset Transfer (SWIAT). RL1 has processed more than 50 transactions valued at over 700 million euros (about $808 million) during three years of production use. Each member holds equal decision‑making authority over governance and development. Former SWIAT managing director Henning Vollbehr has been appointed to lead the cooperative. KfW and L‑Bank continue to support the initiative, and discussions are ongoing with additional institutions such as NatWest. The shared platform is intended to reduce fragmentation among financial institutions that currently use separate distributed ledger systems and to support use cases such as digital money, tokenized bonds and collateral settlement.
Apple’s App Store is under scrutiny after a California lawsuit filed July 24 alleges the company failed to remove fake Sparrow Wallet apps that caused $1.8 million in losses for three Bitcoin users.
Sparrow, a desktop‑only wallet, saw its name used by unauthorized iOS applications that appeared in the App Store for more than a year despite warnings from its developer beginning in early 2024.
The suit claims Apple continued to host and promote these impersonator apps within cryptocurrency app collections, increasing their visibility. Plaintiffs Jalen Delgado, James Ramirez, and Christopher Ellis each downloaded a fake Sparrow app, entered seed phrases, and lost 1 BTC, 7.4 BTC, and 7 BTC respectively, valued at about $120,000, $875,000, and $840,000.
The complaint alleges that Apple received prior reports about the fraudulent apps and did not warn consumers that spoofed wallet applications were available in the store.
Apple responded that it removed the fraudulent apps and terminated the developer accounts, stating its review process blocks fraudulent transactions and that it acted promptly upon detection. The company noted it blocked more than $9 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions between 2020 and 2024, rejected nearly 2 million app submissions, and terminated over 146,000 developer accounts for security concerns.
In April 2025, Kaspersky reported 26 fraudulent apps impersonating various crypto brands on the App Store, linked with moderate confidence to threat actors associated with SparkKitty. Those applications redirected users to phishing pages and installed malicious profiles that harvested seed phrases, leading to losses reported in the United States and China, including musician Garrett Dutton, who lost 5.9 BTC after downloading a fake Ledger app.
The plaintiffs seek reimbursement, compensatory and punitive damages, restitution, and an injunction requiring Apple to improve detection procedures and disclose its fraud‑prevention processes. Whether Apple is liable remains unresolved.
The case highlights ongoing challenges for Apple’s App Store security model as crypto users rely on app verification to protect seed phrases and funds.
Hong Kong's Monetary Authority released a whitepaper showing that banks in the territory achieved a Quantum Preparedness Index score of 2.3 out of 10, indicating limited readiness for post‑quantum cryptography. The index, based on a survey conducted earlier in 2026, tracks four stages: awareness, planning, pilot programs, and practical preparedness. About 68% of surveyed banks had begun planning or pilot projects, while roughly half had not formalized a post‑quantum cryptography plan. Board‑level discussions were held at approximately half of the institutions, but only one‑third had started quantum‑related testing. The HKMA aims to raise the industry score to 10 by 2030 through toolkits, workshops, and skills training developed with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Experts caution that “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks could threaten financial data and blockchain security, a risk highlighted by the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Leap. Although large‑scale quantum computers capable of breaking current encryption do not yet exist, estimates suggest relevant risk could emerge as early as 2029. The regulator’s plan includes a post‑quantum cryptography toolkit and a series of workshops to improve crypto agility. Similar initiatives are under way at the U.S. federal level, where executive orders target quantum computing milestones by 2028 and migration to post‑quantum cryptography by 2030‑31. In early July, Binance reported holding about 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading share, with net inflows despite broader market outflows.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said on July 28 that the protocol’s new v4 fee mechanism does not reduce liquidity providers’ earnings. Governance activated v4 fees on July 27 after a proposal received 46.6 million UNI in support and 1.27 million against, meeting the 40 million UNI quorum. The change adds a 5‑basis‑point protocol charge to the existing 30‑basis‑point pool fee, resulting in a combined fee of roughly 35 basis points for traders. Liquidity providers continue to earn the full 30 basis points per swap. The Pool contract specifies that the total swap charge equals the LP fee plus the protocol fee, with the protocol amount calculated separately and sent to TokenJar contracts. Adams emphasized that the fee is additive, not subtractive, countering statements that LPs lose 25 % of their income. He also criticized a fork that routes all swap fees away from LPs and uses token emissions for compensation, without naming the protocol. Panoptic founder Guillaume Lambert argued during governance discussions that a 10‑25 % charge could weaken LP returns and shift capital to other automated market makers, suggesting fees depend on LP profitability. Uniswap Labs noted that earlier fee activations on v2 and v3 did not cause a broad liquidity exit, and that the 25 largest v3 pools retained 98.5 % of their liquidity after activation. The protocol has burned about 7.5 million UNI through fee‑related burns since December. DefiLlama reported Uniswap’s combined total value locked at approximately $3.06 billion, with $88.4 million in gross fees and $3.36 million in protocol revenue over the past 30 days across all versions and chains. The next measurable outcome will be whether pools maintain liquidity and trading volume as the new fees accumulate. Governance may submit further proposals to adjust rates or pool overrides if needed.
Trade.xyz will reimburse users who suffered liquidation losses tied to a price anomaly in the SK Hynix perpetual contract at 23:01 UTC on July 27. The anomaly caused the token’s mark price to drop 18.7% from $1,127.90 to $917.25, triggering the forced closure of leveraged long positions.
An isolated trade on the NXT pre‑market session showed a SK Hynix share priced at 1.272 million won, 29.96% below the prior close, and briefly hit the daily price limit before orders restored the price to the 1.7 million‑won range within minutes. The regular Seoul session closed with SK Hynix at 1.55 million won, a 14.65% decline.
Trade.xyz said the reimbursement is a discretionary, one‑time decision and has not disclosed the total amount, eligibility formula, or exact distribution date. The company will issue eligibility criteria soon, and payments are expected in the coming days.
The platform noted that its oracle followed its published specifications and that multiple independent data providers relayed the executed NXT trade, indicating the price originated from an external venue rather than a blockchain failure. Trade.xyz is accelerating a review of external price inputs and plans to give greater weight to its own order‑book liquidity and market signals.
On‑chain tracker Lookonchain estimated that more than $80 million in SKHX positions were liquidated, but Trade.xyz has not confirmed the figure or its liability. One affected trader, 0xc985, saw a $260 k loss after a $2.08 million long position was fully liquidated.
Trade.xyz also plans to implement stronger tail‑event pricing controls, including a two‑minute call auction safeguard for NXT slated for September, as part of broader efforts to improve price formation resilience.
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams rejected claims that the newly activated v4 protocol fees reduce liquidity providers' earnings. In a post on X, Adams said recent criticism was "FUD and misunderstanding." He explained that a 5‑basis‑point fee on a 30‑basis‑point pool equals about 14% of total swap fees, not a reduction in LP income. Adams said the fees are additive, not deducted from existing fees. Uniswap governance approved the fee activation for selected v4 pools across multiple blockchains. The platform holds roughly $3.06 billion in total value locked, according to DefiLlama. The debate over fee structures continues as the protocol expands its fee model.
Zcash researchers have formally verified Ironwood, publishing a machine‑checked proof that the network’s new shielded pool cannot create undetectable counterfeit transactions under its cryptographic assumptions. The proof, written in the Lean programming language, consists of more than 2,700 theorems and was completed by three research teams over a month, according to Project Tachyon. It establishes balance integrity, ensuring that the shielded pool cannot pay out more value than has entered it, and covers the zero‑knowledge proof system, circuit rules and ledger accounting, but does not address Ironwood’s privacy features. Ironwood was introduced in the NU6.3 upgrade to address a vulnerability in the Orchard shielded pool that could have allowed undetectable ZEC counterfeiting. Developers said they found no evidence that the flaw had been exploited. The new pool requires funds moving from Orchard to pass through a public turnstile checkpoint, which prevents excess coins from entering Ironwood and may provide evidence of any prior exploitation. The verification does not constitute a judgment on whether the Orchard vulnerability was used, and Zcash continues to monitor the network.
Trade.xyz will reimburse traders whose positions were liquidated after its SK Hynix perpetual futures contract fell 19% on July 27. The contract’s mark price dropped from about $1,128 to $917 at 23:01 UTC, according to the company. The decline resulted from a single trade executed on a thin Korean pre‑market venue, the company said. Trade.xyz said the oracle system reported the trade as designed and that no system malfunction or manipulation occurred. The firm characterized the loss‑covering action as a one‑time, discretionary decision and indicated that eligibility criteria and payout timing would be announced later. The company plans to reassess its price‑source methodology, giving greater weight to its own order books, which it says have growing depth and signal relevance compared with external venues. Research has shown that crypto perpetual futures can lead spot markets and have priced pre‑IPO events more accurately than traditional bookbuilding. The reimbursement follows a period of market volatility, including a record two‑day decline in Korean equities and a 17% drop in SK Hynix shares after its quarterly profit reported a 557% increase but missed estimates.
Ondo Finance CEO Ian de Bode announced that the firm has abandoned its plan to build a traditional layer‑1 blockchain and has launched Ondo Network, a private trading platform for institutional use. The shift follows the February 2025 vision for Ondo Chain, a blockchain intended for institutional finance and tokenized real‑world assets. Ondo Perps, the first application on the network, will allow users to trade perpetual futures using tokenized assets as collateral, with orders executed privately and settlement recorded on public blockchains. The CEO said the network continues the original goals of Ondo Chain while meeting the speed and privacy required by institutional traders. By separating execution from settlement, the platform aims to give institutions the benefits of blockchain settlement without exposing their trading activity to competitors. Ondo said the network could later support spot markets, lending, structured products and additional settlement infrastructure. An update on July 28 added a remark from the CEO.
Bitcoin rose modestly to around $63,800 after a dip to $63,065 in the Asian session, but remains down about 1% over the past 24 hours. The price is near the $68,500 breakeven level identified by Bitfinex analysts as a key short‑term resistance for traders holding positions for less than 155 days. If the price clears this barrier, analysts expect a potential move toward $84,000.
The broader market showed mixed performance. While major AI‑related chipmakers such as Micron, SanDisk, Applied Materials and Seagate declined sharply, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% driven by consumer staples and healthcare stocks. The S&P 500 edged up 0.4% and the Nasdaq fell 1.3%. Oil prices slipped to $78.50 per barrel, about 5% lower than recent highs, reducing concerns about a possible Fed rate hike, which fell to 28% probability according to CME FedWatch.
Seagate Technology posted a 7% after‑hours gain after reporting fourth‑quarter earnings that beat estimates, citing strong cloud data‑center demand. Its year‑to‑date gain is about 150%. Western Digital also rose 5% on similar earnings momentum.
Grayscale Research estimated that the decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid could generate roughly $1 billion in earnings in 2027, valuing its token HYPE at 15‑18 times forward earnings, a discount to comparable fintech firms. The note highlighted risks related to token supply and network activity.
Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, warned that the greatest risk to Bitcoin is internal changes to its consensus rules, comparing the protocol to a constitution that underpins scarcity and security. He argued that protocol modifications such as larger blocks or transaction censorship could weaken those principles, and said innovation should occur on higher layers rather than altering the base protocol.
Goldman Sachs reported that its high‑beta momentum basket of stocks turned negative for 2026 after a sharp retreat from AI infrastructure highs. Meanwhile, Visa announced a 7% workforce reduction, targeting technology and product teams, and PayPal indicated it would consider a sale if it could create superior shareholder value.
Crypto‑related equities fell, with Strategy, Coinbase and Circle down 4.4%, 3.5% and 5.5% respectively. Data‑center focused firms such as Galaxy Digital, Hut 8 and Marathon also declined, reflecting the ongoing pullback from the AI trade. Morgan Stanley launched spot‑based Ethereum and Solana ETPs on NYSE Arca, each with a 0.14% expense ratio and staking rewards passed to investors.
Ionic Digital, formed from the former Celsius mining assets, began a direct listing on Nasdaq with a reference price of $53, describing itself as a provider of AI and high‑performance computing infrastructure while maintaining a modest bitcoin treasury. Galaxy Digital announced a 500‑acre acquisition in Texas to expand its data‑center capacity to 74 MW.
South Korea’s Kospi index dropped about 11% overnight, contributing to a broader decline in chip stocks and prompting Bitcoin to fall back toward $63,000. The Federal Reserve began a two‑day policy meeting, with market participants split on the likelihood of a rate hike on Wednesday.
Bitcoin traders have reduced the put‑call open‑interest ratio to about 0.52 from 0.76 in late June, indicating fewer put contracts relative to call contracts. The ratio reflects a decline in demand for downside protection as the Federal Reserve prepares to hold its July 29 meeting, which analysts describe as one of the most uncertain in recent years. Fed Funds futures assign a 35% probability to a 25‑basis‑point rate increase, down from a brief 40% estimate on Monday, according to CME FedWatch. Bitcoin was trading near $63,400 as the two‑day meeting began, and HSBC noted the decision as among the least certain in more than four years, a view reported by Reuters. The put‑to‑call ratio does not reveal the intent behind each trade; puts may serve as insurance, income strategies, or components of broader positions. One‑week put premiums remain above call premiums, but the put skew narrowed to roughly 9% from 13% earlier in the week, suggesting reduced willingness to pay for immediate downside protection. Large call concentrations exist at strike prices of $70,000 and $72,000, with more than 20,000 calls at each level, according to Deribit analytics. Bitcoin would need to rise more than 10% from current levels to reach $70,000 before those contracts expire on July 31. The outcome of the Fed meeting could affect short‑term Treasury yields and the dollar, which in turn would influence Bitcoin’s price and the value of outstanding options. A 25‑basis‑point rate increase would likely push yields higher and the dollar stronger, tightening financial conditions for risk assets. Conversely, a hold with firm inflation language could initially boost Bitcoin as the risk of a rate hike recedes, though elevated yields may limit sustained gains. A softer hold that acknowledges weaker energy prices or hiring could reduce yield pressure and support risk appetite. The absence of updated dot‑plot projections means market participants will focus on the policy statement, vote count, and Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference remarks. Investors will watch for changes to the Fed’s description of inflation, employment and risk balance, as well as any indication that another rate move remains possible in September. Within crypto markets, traders will monitor one‑week put skew, futures open interest, US spot‑market premiums and spot Bitcoin ETF flows for signs of shifting protection demand.
Crypto security losses reached $1.1 billion across 212 verified incidents in the first half of 2026, according to a Blockaid report released July 28.
Crypto security losses reached $1.1 billion across 212 verified incidents in the first half of 2026, according to a Blockaid report released July 28. The report indicated that 74 % of the stolen value resulted from operational security failures rather than smart‑contract vulnerabilities, and a cluster linked to North Korea accounted for 55 % of the total loss. Incident volume set a record, exceeding the 2025 total by 3.4 times, though methodology varied among data providers.
Ethereum‑related losses totaled about $332 million, with the largest single case involving KelpDAO, which released roughly 116,500 rsETH valued at $292 million after a bridge transaction that falsified a source‑chain message. Chainalysis linked the April 18 attack to the Lazarus Group, which compromised internal RPC nodes. Solana‑related losses amounted to $326 million, with over 98 % arising from compromised keys and signing infrastructure; the majority of the loss was attributed to Drift Protocol and Step Finance, while smaller incidents affected Raydium and Volo.
The Drift attack on April 1 involved months of social engineering and the use of pre‑signed durable‑nonce transactions to gain administrative control, resulting in an estimated $295.7 million loss. Recovery efforts included a proposal for a support pool featuring up to $127.5 million from Tether and $20 million from other partners, as well as a transferable recovery token. Drift’s plan also called for audits by OtterSec and Asymmetric, dedicated signing devices, timelocks and a redesigned multisig structure.
The Drift exploiter moved 23,095.1 ether worth about $44.4 million to Tornado Cash on July 23‑24. Blockaid advised teams to strengthen transaction‑intent verification, use isolated signing devices, segregate keys and monitor bridge and infrastructure activity. Ongoing legal proceedings and potential asset seizures related to the KelpDAO and Drift cases remain unresolved. The next updates are expected from Drift’s recovery‑token terms and relaunch schedule, Step Finance’s claims process, court actions concerning frozen KelpDAO funds, and any law‑enforcement asset seizures announced.
MYANMAR PARLIAMENT PASSES ANTI-SCAM BILL IMPOSING LIFE SENTENCES FOR CRYPTO SCAMS
The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Myanmar’s combined parliament, approved an anti-online scam bill on Tuesday that mandates prison terms ranging from 10 years to life for cryptocurrency fraud and related offenses. The legislation also prescribes the death penalty for acts of violence, torture, unlawful arrest or detention that are used to force individuals into online scams, with death required when such conduct results in a fatality.
The draft, published in May, outlines penalties of 10 years to life for scam activities and specifies capital punishment for violent or coercive tactics that cause death, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar. Lower House MP Aye Chan stated that the final version retained the death‑penalty provision and that no significant changes were made to the key elements of the draft, a claim reported by Agence France‑Presse.
Parliamentary sources indicated that the two chambers resolved differences between earlier versions of the bill, but the report did not specify when the measure would take effect or whether it had received presidential assent.
The bill marks the latest governmental attempt to curb an expanding network of online fraud centers that have turned parts of the country into hubs for digital scams.
Morgan Stanley announced on July 28, 2026, that it will begin trading exchange‑traded products on NYSE Arca that track ether (ETH) and solana (SOL), expanding its digital asset lineup beyond its spot bitcoin fund launched earlier this year. The announcement follows the introduction of the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust in early 2026 and reflects increasing demand for regulated cryptocurrency investment products. The new funds use CoinDesk benchmark indexes, charge a 0.14% expense ratio, and will stake a portion of the underlying assets, passing any staking rewards to investors. According to a press release from Morgan Stanley, Amy Oldenburg, head of digital asset strategy, said that client interest in digital assets continues to grow and that the firm is focused on providing investment solutions that meet its governance, infrastructure and risk‑management standards. The ether trust will track the CoinDesk Ether Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate, and the solana trust will track the CoinDesk Solana Benchmark 4PM NY Settlement Rate, giving investors exposure without needing to hold the tokens directly. Both products carry the same 0.14% expense ratio, which the firm says is the lowest on the market. Morgan Stanley’s 16,000 financial advisors and its E*TRADE platform provide distribution channels for the products. In addition to the two new trusts, eight solana‑focused exchange‑traded funds exist, with total net assets of $889.3 million, according to SoSoValue data. The bitcoin trust, which had $381 million in assets under management as of July 16, tracks the CoinDesk Bitcoin Benchmark Rate. BlackRock, which operates the largest spot bitcoin exchange‑traded fund, recently launched a crypto income fund, indicating broader industry interest in steady‑income crypto products. The launches illustrate a continued shift of traditional financial institutions into digital asset products, and the market impact of these offerings will become clearer over time.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint on July 23, 2026 against Bitkub Online and two former directors, alleging they submitted false daily net‑capital reports that omitted a theft of roughly $53 million in customer assets.
The alleged theft occurred in May 2021 after a cyberattack that resulted in the withdrawal of assets across 16 cryptocurrencies. Bitkub’s Form DA 1 filings from May 10 to October 30, 2021, showed no change in asset balances, according to the regulator.
The SEC says the former directors, identified as Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, made false entries in company documents. Bitkub acknowledged that staff chose not to disclose that assets from a single wallet had been stolen, saying the nondisclosure was intended to prevent a bank run while the exchange sought to replace the missing funds. The company denied any fraudulent intent and said its co‑founders absorbed the loss by purchasing the same currencies in the same quantities, claiming that neither the firm nor its customers experienced asset losses.
In a separate September 2025 update, the SEC reported that customer digital assets held by Bitkub were safe and complete as of September 8, 2025, but that update does not resolve the 2021 reporting allegations.
The regulator has not said when the asset replacement was completed. An inquiry official will review the case and recommend whether to proceed with prosecution; a public prosecutor would then evaluate the file, and a court would decide the outcome if the matter proceeds. The allegations remain unadjudicated.
The investigation will determine whether the SEC’s allegations of false reporting and potential fraud can be substantiated.
Trade.xyz will reimburse eligible traders after a price anomaly caused its SK Hynix perpetual contract mark price to fall from $1,127.90 to $917.25 at 23:01 UTC on Monday. The contract, one of Hyperliquid’s most active markets, recorded over $1.5 billion in 24‑hour volume and nearly $600 million in open interest. The platform said its oracle, which converts Korean won prices to US dollars using the prevailing exchange rate, received external price data that triggered the move. The anomaly originated from a trade executed on an external market, not from Trade.xyz’s order book. Trade.xyz described the reimbursement as a one‑time discretionary decision and said it would review how prices are formed during extreme market events. It has not disclosed how many traders qualify or the total amount to be distributed. The company is considering giving more weight to prices from its own order books, which it says now provide meaningful liquidity. Trade.xyz operates under Hyperliquid’s HIP‑3 framework, which permits perpetual contracts tied to assets with external price feeds, and it previously accounted for more than $22 billion of HIP‑3’s cumulative volume. Distributions are expected in the coming days.
A federal judge on July 27 granted a temporary injunction preventing Minnesota from enforcing its new prediction‑market felony law against CFTC‑designated contract markets, including Kalshi and Polymarket US, before the statute takes effect on August 1. Judge Katherine Menendez issued the order after hearing a preliminary‑injunction motion filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, KalshiEX, and Polymarket US. The judge said the plaintiffs are likely to prove that the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over swap transactions conducted on designated contract markets, and that certain event contracts satisfy the definition of swaps. She identified contracts tied to a Senate election, the World Cup winner, a LeBron James signing and Strait of Hormuz traffic as likely swaps, while noting that other contracts, such as those on a Senate election lead or the outcome of Love Island USA, may not qualify. The injunction applies only to CFTC‑designated contract markets and does not shield customers, independent advertisers or non‑registered service providers. Polymarket US said it will continue serving Minnesota users, and Attorney General Keith Ellison said the state will defend the law as the litigation proceeds. A separate New York court earlier denied Kalshi interim protection from existing state gambling enforcement. The cases remain open, and the preliminary rulings do not resolve how federal registration interacts with state gambling regulations nationwide.
Florida Rep. Mike Haridopolos urged the Senate to advance the CLARITY Act before the August recess, saying continued delays could cause U.S. crypto firms and investment to shift overseas. Senate leaders have focused on federal nominees and a Russia sanctions bill, reducing the likelihood of a vote on the measure before the break. The legislation passed the House in July 2025 with a 294–134 bipartisan vote, establishing separate oversight for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It requires at least eight Democratic votes to overcome Senate procedural rules. The Senate Banking Committee approved the bill 15–9 in May, with two Democrats supporting it, but both indicated that their support did not guarantee a floor vote without further changes. The current Senate draft would bar the president and vice president from issuing or sponsoring crypto assets until January 2029, with enforcement delegated to the Justice Department. Democrats have objected that the proposal would limit state attorneys general from pursuing crypto enforcement actions. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the bill could preempt state digital asset regulations and urged stronger anti‑money‑laundering, customer identification and cybersecurity requirements. Her office reported a threefold increase in crypto‑related complaints over the past three years. Industry groups, including Coinbase, Ripple, the Digital Chamber and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, have expressed support for advancing the Senate version, though Solomon called the bill imperfect. If the Senate does not act before the August recess, the next opportunity may arise in September, after which failure to pass the legislation before the end of the current Congress could push the market structure debate into 2027. The delay leaves the regulatory framework for token trading, fundraising and digital commodity markets uncertain, though support among crypto companies and parts of Wall Street remains broad.
Tether and the Nairobi Securities Exchange signed a memorandum of understanding on July 28 to explore tokenized securities, blockchain‑based market infrastructure and digital asset education in Kenya.
Kenya’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, effective November 4, 2025, assigns tokenization oversight to the Capital Markets Authority and stablecoin issuance supervision to the Central Bank of Kenya, requiring licensing, anti‑money‑laundering controls and technology safeguards.
The agreement outlines a framework for examining fractional access to securities for local and diaspora investors, onboarding processes aligned with Kenyan AML and KYC rules, and instant settlement using Tether’s Hadron platform. The parties said they will assess whether USDT could serve as a settlement layer where regulations permit. Training sessions and workshops for brokers and retail investors are also planned. No specific securities, blockchain, custodial arrangements or pilot timeline were disclosed.
Regulatory approval and technical specifications will determine the next steps, and the MoU does not constitute a commitment to launch a product or settle transactions in USDT.
Total value locked in Ethereum Layer 2 networks fell to roughly $5 billion, the lowest level recorded in two years. The decline reverses much of the growth seen in 2024 when launches of Optimism, Arbitrum and ZKsync drew interest. Optimistic rollups such as Optimism, Base and Arbitrum accounted for about $4.8 billion, or 96 % of the total, according to The Block. The drop coincides with leadership changes at the Ethereum Foundation, which has lost several senior staff members since the start of the year. At the same time, traditional financial institutions have continued to explore blockchain solutions, with DTCC tokenizing Treasury securities and JPMorgan deploying its JPM Coin across multiple public chains. Stablecoins such as USDC and USDT remain largely settled on Ethereum and its Layer 2s, keeping the network central to the emerging TradFi bridge, though the durability of that role is uncertain. Analysts said the contraction may indicate waning institutional interest, but the longer‑term impact on Ethereum’s ecosystem remains to be seen.
Tether signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nairobi Securities Exchange to explore tokenized securities and blockchain-based market infrastructure, including the use of USDT as a settlement layer. The onchain value of tokenized real-world assets has reached approximately $36.8 billion, excluding stablecoins, according to RWA.xyz. The same tracker records nearly $298 billion in stablecoins, which some participants view as RWAs because they represent claims on offchain assets. USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, is valued at roughly $184 billion. The memorandum outlines plans to develop blockchain infrastructure, provide digital asset education and issue tokenized securities through Tether’s Hadron platform. It also calls for evaluation of instant settlement mechanisms and the permissible use of USDT in Kenya’s regulatory framework. The collaboration reflects growing interest in linking traditional securities markets with blockchain technology as the sector’s onchain asset value continues to expand.
Apple is being sued by three individuals who say they lost a combined $1.8 million after downloading a fraudulent Bitcoin wallet app from the App Store. The complaint was filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The plaintiffs, identified as James Ramirez, Christopher Ellis and Jalen Delgado, said they entered their seed phrases into the app, which enabled scammers to transfer their Bitcoin. Their reported losses were $875,000, $840,000 and $120,000, respectively, during 2025, according to the filing obtained by MacRumors.
The app, called Sparrow Wallet, is available for Windows, macOS and Linux, but has no official iOS version. Its developer, Craig Raw, has previously criticized Apple for allowing counterfeit versions of the app to appear in the store.
Apple told MacRumors that it removed apps impersonating Sparrow Wallet and terminated developer accounts linked to those apps. The company said it accepts reports of guideline violations and takes action against non‑compliant applications.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about App Store review processes and may influence future enforcement actions.
Citadel forecasts a 25‑basis‑point Federal Reserve rate hike on Wednesday, which would lift the benchmark rate to 3.75%‑4%.
Analysts at crypto firms and exchanges expect the Fed to leave rates unchanged. The CME Group's FedWatch tool shows a 35.8% probability of a hike, up from 25.7% a week earlier.
Citadel argues that a surprise increase would end forward guidance, reassert Fed independence and reset market and wage‑setting behavior more effectively than a widely anticipated September move. Frank Flight, head of macro strategy at Citadel Securities, said a July hike would end forward guidance and force markets to price the data rather than expectations, clearly demonstrating Fed independence after two years of scrutiny. He added that forward guidance has distorted market reactions, causing assets to trade on expected policy moves rather than underlying data.
Flight further argued that a shock hike can influence firms' pricing and workers' wage negotiations before an economic slowdown, potentially reducing the total amount of tightening needed later. He noted that waiting until September could mute the impact because the move would appear as a continuation of the existing forward‑guidance framework.
Crypto markets have pulled back from a recent high near $67,000 to just under $64,000, reflecting cautious sentiment ahead of the decision. Binance retained about 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading volume in early July, while other tracked markets saw outflows.
The outcome of the Wednesday Fed meeting is expected to shape short‑term expectations for risk assets, including bitcoin.
Don Wilson, chief executive of DRW, argued that many perceptions of crypto perpetual futures are mistaken and said the products should be viewed like traditional futures contracts. His comments come as interest grows in bringing perpetual futures into regulated U.S. markets. Perpetual futures are derivative contracts without an expiration date. While exchanges have added features such as high leverage, automatic liquidation mechanisms and continuous trading, Wilson said these are implementation choices, not inherent to the contracts. Traditional futures markets calculate margin once daily, requiring larger initial margin buffers, whereas exchanges can recalculate margin in real time, allowing lower initial margin requirements. The proposal to expand perpetual futures to regulated markets includes participants such as Kalshi, which recently filed a plan to offer perpetuals on precious metals. Unlike crypto exchanges that operate continuously and use digital collateral, traditional clearinghouses calculate margin once per day, giving participants until the next business day to post additional collateral. Wilson said that real-time settlement reduces the need for large upfront margin buffers while maintaining protection. He also said the main innovation of perpetual futures is the elimination of contract rolling, which lowers transaction costs, market impact and roll slippage and allows positions to track the front of the futures curve. Wilson urged regulators to evaluate the economic substance rather than legal labels, noting that perpetuals are economically futures and should not be treated as swaps simply because they lack an expiration date. He called for broader availability of perpetual futures across commodities, securities and crypto, describing them as tools for price discovery and risk management rather than crypto‑specific innovations. The regulatory framework for perpetual futures remains unresolved, and it is unclear how exchanges will adapt the products to meet U.S. rules.
AI companies are obtaining large quantities of physical books for training data. ISBNdb markets up to one million titles to AI developers, including non‑digitized, rare, or out‑of‑print material. Anthropic previously purchased millions of books, removed bindings, cut pages to size, scanned them, and discarded the paper originals. In June 2025 a federal court issued rulings on the legality of these practices. The court found that training specific large language models with scanned copies qualified as transformative fair use and that converting purchased books into digital library copies without increasing the library’s copy count also qualified as fair use. The court denied summary judgment on claims involving pirated central‑library copies. The ruling emphasized that destruction of the physical original was not required and that preserving both the book and its scan created a different copy‑count situation. It did not establish a general license for any acquisition method or for all destructive scans. Public statements about cultural loss have not been supported by evidence identifying specific titles, copies, or surviving editions. Vendor claims of a price premium for rare books remain unverified. Analogies have been drawn to NFT transactions in which artwork was destroyed before tokenization. The incentive to treat physical books as expendable for scalable training data persists as the legal framework continues to evolve.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission plans to draft a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act with the ruling Democratic Party, aiming to create a unified framework for stablecoin issuance and broader cryptocurrency regulation. The proposal would set rules for issuance and circulation of stablecoins, entry requirements for exchanges, disclosure obligations, internal controls and system‑resilience standards. Ten separate digital‑asset and stablecoin bills remain pending in Parliament, and disagreements over whether won‑denominated stablecoin issuers must be majority bank‑owned and on ownership limits for major exchanges have delayed progress. The FSC has not announced a timeline for introducing the consolidated bill.
An opposition bill to repeal South Korea’s crypto income tax was scheduled for review by the Finance and Economic Planning Committee on Wednesday. The amendment, introduced by People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon‑seok on March 19, would delete the provision that taxes income from transferring or lending digital assets, which is set to apply from January 1, 2027 to gains exceeding 2.5 million won (about $1,700) annually, plus a 2 % local surcharge. A petition signed by more than 50,000 people requesting the same repeal is expected to go before a petitions subcommittee, though no subcommittees have been fully constituted and no review dates have been set.
The government and ruling party support implementing the tax, while the opposition argues that taxing crypto income is unfair compared with the current exemption for most stock investors. The legislative process remains ongoing, with no final dates established for committee deliberations or the introduction of the consolidated bill.
Bitcoin fell around 2% to $63,985 on July 28, 2026, as South Korea's Kospi index dropped 11% and the U.S. Senate deferred the Crypto Clarity Act. The Kospi decline, driven by a slump in chipmaking stocks, pressured global risk assets, including AI and layer‑1 tokens such as FET, NEAR and HYPE, which lost up to 10% in 24 hours. The Senate's decision to set aside the Crypto Clarity Act to prioritize a Russia sanctions bill and federal nominations left two weeks of legislative time before the August 8 recess, raising uncertainty about the bill's prospects. Bitcoin's price, reported by CoinDesk, was down 0.53% since midnight UTC and 2% during the U.S. overnight session. Ether slipped 0.56% to $1,880, failing to break the $2,000 level. The Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.70%, gold fell 0.93% and silver 1.50%. Taker long/short volume in futures turned bearish, with shorts representing 51.5% of volume, a shift from recent bullish bias. XRP futures open interest rose to 2.35 billion tokens, up about 6% from the previous day, while open interest in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana futures remained steady. Open interest in other tokens such as SHIB, AVAX, LINK and DOGE declined, indicating capital outflows. The 24‑hour cumulative volume delta turned negative for the first time in three weeks, showing that bearish price action was driven by short market orders. Funding rates for Bitcoin hovered near zero, while rates for Ethereum, Solana, XRP and TRX turned negative. Implied volatility for Bitcoin and Ethereum remained low, near recent lows, suggesting market participants were not pricing heightened stress despite the Fed meeting and core PCE inflation data scheduled for the week. Deribit options showed a modest increase in put‑call skew for Bitcoin and Ethereum, with puts taking the top ranking in volume. The outcome of the Crypto Clarity Act remains unresolved, and the market's direction will depend on forthcoming regulatory decisions and economic data.
Ionic Digital rose about 25% to $63 on its Nasdaq debut on Tuesday, giving the company an implied market value of roughly $2.75 billion. The firm, created in January 2024 to acquire Celsius Mining’s assets from the bankrupt Celsius Network, listed via a direct offering under the ticker IOND, opening at $50 against a $53 reference price. Ionic received approximately $195 million in cash and 540 BTC, valued at about $35 million, and assumed control of the mining operations previously managed by Hut 8, which retained a minority stake. The company has expanded its infrastructure into artificial intelligence and high‑performance computing, signing a 10‑year lease with Nscale for its West Texas site that includes about $2 billion in contracted revenue, with a February amendment raising the total to $2.6 billion, according to an SEC filing. Ionic continues to mine bitcoin at four Texas locations, having extracted just under 25 BTC in May, bringing its total holdings to 2,861 BTC, which places it at number 28 among publicly traded corporate bitcoin holders, behind DDC Enterprise Limited, as reported by Bitcoin Treasuries. Ionic plans to reduce bitcoin mining output as it reallocates more of its power capacity to AI workloads, and the company has not yet been added to Bitcoin Treasuries’ public rankings.
Bitcoin rose 1% to about $63,800 on July 29, 2026, and major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum and XRP also increased. Asian equity markets, led by chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung, fell 11% over two days, marking a significant decline for the benchmark index as expectations for AI demand were reassessed after a surge in technology stocks. The KOSPI index dropped 11% following a 17% decline in SK Hynix shares after its quarterly profit rose 557% but fell short of forecasts, and Samsung shares fell 12% ahead of its results. MSCI Asia Pacific declined 2% to its lowest level since mid‑April, and Nasdaq‑100 futures fell 1%, extending a five‑day losing streak for the tech‑heavy gauge. Crypto prices had previously moved in tandem with AI‑linked equities, but the correlation weakened, with Bitcoin holding steady through recent tech selloffs. The Senate delayed the Clarity Act on Monday, briefly pushing Bitcoin below $63,000 before it recovered. The Federal Reserve will deliver its rate decision later Wednesday, with markets pricing a 15% chance of an increase, while core PCE inflation and Q2 GDP data and additional large‑cap technology earnings are upcoming. Binance held about 55% of user funds and 24% of spot trading share, recording net inflows in early July while the broader market saw outflows.
Coinbase’s Canadian CEO Eric Richmond said the exchange wants to bring U.S. crypto products, such as derivatives, decentralized finance services and tokenized assets, to Canadian retail investors, but said the country’s regulatory framework must evolve beyond temporary exemptions. The comments were made at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Toronto on July 28, 2026.
Canada has been an early adopter of spot crypto exchange‑traded funds and enacted a Stablecoin Act earlier this year, yet its guidance on digital assets largely relies on case‑by‑case exemptions rather than a comprehensive legislative framework. This fragmented approach has delayed access to higher‑yield lending, broader futures trading and other sophisticated offerings for Canadian users.
Richmond, who previously worked at Shakepay and Coinsquare, noted that while Canada’s regulatory staff notices have enabled rapid approvals for simple products, they are insufficient for newer, more complex services. He said a harmonized national instrument—rules adopted by all provincial securities regulators—would provide certainty for firms and investors. The U.S. has issued more detailed guidance on tokenized securities, custody and capital treatment, giving American firms a head start in standard setting, according to a July report by Norton Rose Fulbright.
Coinbase currently offers a USDC stablecoin lending program paying roughly 7% APY to U.S. customers, a product not available in Canada where the same holding yields up to 4.5% APY. The company has secured an international exemption to provide crypto futures through its CFTC‑regulated subsidiary Coinbase Financial Markets, but broader retail access would require additional approvals. Richmond emphasized that the delay reflects structural differences in the two jurisdictions, not merely a slow regulatory pace.
The outcome of Canada’s regulatory deliberations could determine how quickly U.S. crypto products reach Canadian markets, leaving the timeline for expanded services uncertain.
Bitcoin traded near $63,500 as Senate odds for the CLARITY Act fell to about 30% before the Aug. 7 recess. The legislation aims to create a market‑structure framework for digital assets and faces a compressed timeline in the Senate, competing with Russia sanctions, the SAVE Act and budget measures. Senate rules limit floor time, and cloture under Rule XXII could require up to 30 hours of debate, making passage before the recess difficult without unanimous consent. According to Charles Schwab, changes in CLARITY passage odds account for roughly 4.3% of Bitcoin’s daily price variation, rising to 8% when liquidation effects are excluded. Nasdaq risk appetite explains 20.5% of the movement, while other macro factors account for 60.2% of the unexplained variation. Schwab notes that the market treats delay as the baseline, suggesting that an unexpected legislative breakthrough could generate a repricing that benefits institutional participants. FM Intelligence assigns a 25% probability to a bullish scenario of $135,000‑$200,000 if the act passes before the November midterms, versus a base case of $95,000‑$130,000. Grayscale argues that Bitcoin may be near a bear‑market low and that passage could unlock new institutional demand. The muted reaction to deteriorating odds indicates that traders have priced in prolonged uncertainty, but an actual passage could change the calculus for traditional financial firms.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said it will prepare a unified Digital Asset Basic Act with the ruling Democratic Party, merging ten pending crypto bills. The 22% tax on digital asset gains is scheduled for January 1, 2027 despite opposition attempts to repeal the measure.
The existing Virtual Asset User Protection Act addresses custody and unfair trading, while the new proposal would set rules for stablecoin issuance, exchange entry standards, disclosure requirements, internal controls and user safeguards. A proposed amendment in the Finance and Economic Planning Committee aims to delete the tax provision before its 2027 start date.
The regulator has not finalized issuer ownership rules, which remain contested over whether won‑backed stablecoin issuers must be bank‑led consortiums holding at least 50% plus one share. The Bank of Korea supports a bank‑led model for stability, and the FSC says broader framework details, including anti‑money‑laundering standards, will be completed in 2026.
The ruling party backs the legislation, and the National Tax Service is preparing guidance and a dedicated digital‑asset unit. A petition signed by more than 50,000 people also seeks repeal. The FSC must finish consultations with the ruling party and other authorities before submitting the consolidated bill, after which the ten pending proposals will be reviewed. The tax repeal amendment will go to the Finance and Economic Planning Committee’s tax subcommittee, and the petition will be examined by a separate petitions subcommittee; no review dates have been set. Unless lawmakers act, the 22% tax will take effect on January 1, 2027.
Zcash’s Ironwood upgrade activated on Tuesday at block height 3,428,143 as part of the NU6.3 network upgrade, introducing a new shielded pool called Ironwood. The upgrade follows concerns about a zero‑knowledge circuit flaw in the previous Orchard pool, which was limited to withdrawal functions after the activation. The Orchard pool, launched in 2022, had represented nearly 88% of the blockchain’s shielded token supply at its peak, while older Sapling and Sprout pools accounted for the remainder, according to The Block’s data. A migration tracker indicated that 40,207 ZEC had moved into Ironwood, while roughly 3.6 million tokens remained in Orchard. The Orchard vulnerability, disclosed by Shielded Labs researcher Taylor Hornby in late May, involved a flaw in the pool’s zero‑knowledge circuit that could theoretically permit counterfeit ZEC creation without detection. Analysts stated there was no evidence the flaw had been exploited, but developers opted to patch the pool and deploy a more mathematically sound alternative. Ironwood reuses the corrected Orchard circuit and its Halo 2 proof system, has undergone formal verification, and includes quantum‑recoverable notes under ZIP 2005 and a “turnstile” mechanism that caps outflows from Orchard and allows independent auditing of the circulating supply. Josh Swihart, executive director of the Zcash Open Development Lab, said 14 ZODL engineers contributed 82% of the merged protocol changes, and the upgrade was a collaborative effort involving ZODL, Project Tachyon, Valar Group, the Zcash Foundation, and Shielded Labs. Sean Bowe, a Zcash co‑founder, noted that the cross‑team collaboration eliminated sources of undetectable counterfeiting bugs from the new protocol. The upgrade installs a turnstile that limits the amount of funds that can exit Orchard and enables auditing of ZEC’s circulating supply, supporting the protocol’s 21 million coin cap. The token price fell about 9% on the day of the upgrade before recovering to roughly $475.
Visa outlined a stablecoin strategy during its third‑quarter earnings call, reporting $11.6 billion in revenue, a 14 percent increase from the prior year, driven by double‑digit growth in payments volume, cross‑border volume and processed transactions.
The company said it is investing across multiple layers of the stablecoin ecosystem, including blockchain, issuance, wallets, infrastructure, orchestration and applications. Visa joined the OpenStandard consortium, which plans to issue the OpenUSD stablecoin for global money movement. The Visa stablecoin platform is designed to let partners settle with Visa in stablecoins, provide on‑chain wallet‑as‑a‑service infrastructure, and move money between fiat currencies and stablecoins, beginning with OpenUSD.
The platform will integrate with Pismo to support tokenized deposits for financial institutions, with plans to add third‑party tokenized deposit infrastructure providers in the future. Visa also highlighted artificial intelligence as a long‑term growth area, describing stablecoins and AI as complementary technologies that together could expand the addressable market for agentic commerce.
Cross‑border volume rose 13 percent year‑on‑year, or 12 percent excluding intra‑Europe, while processed transactions increased 10 percent, according to the earnings release.
Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said that crypto firms licensed in one ASEAN market should be able to operate in others through a simplified approval process rather than submitting a full new application. He made the comment during a fireside chat at the ASEAN Tech Summit Manila 2026, where he supported a proposal by FinTech Alliance PH founder Lito Villanueva for regulatory passporting or license portability. Zhao said regulators could review applicants but should not require another complete licensing application. A regional licensing framework could reduce compliance costs, increase competition and lower consumer prices. ASEAN regulators currently handle digital assets separately, creating multiple approval steps for companies seeking regional expansion. The Collective Investment Schemes Framework operated by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum allows funds authorized in one jurisdiction to be offered in other participating jurisdictions through a streamlined process, a model first used in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in 2014 and expanded to the Philippines in 2021. The ACMF Pass also provides fast‑track registration for licensed advisers moving between jurisdictions. While these existing mechanisms are narrower than a full passporting system and still require host‑market compliance, they demonstrate prior use of mutual recognition in ASEAN finance. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation provides a comparable passporting regime for crypto‑asset service providers. Zhao noted that differing national policies and regulatory approaches present challenges, but said that firms already licensed in one market should face a lighter application when entering another ASEAN jurisdiction.
Bitcoin held steady above $63,000 and rose about 6% for the month, while AI‑linked technology stocks and semiconductor indexes declined. Traders priced a 30% chance of a 25‑basis‑point rate hike and a 70% chance the Fed will keep rates unchanged before the July 30 meeting, according to CME FedWatch. Analysts say the weakening correlation between Bitcoin and equities suggests the Fed decision may have a limited impact on Bitcoin compared with traditional risk assets. Thahbib Rahman, a research analyst at Block Scholes, said the upcoming FOMC meeting is one of the most uncertain in years, with only two such meetings since 2015 showing greater market division. Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33 Research, noted that softer correlations are expected as the Nasdaq continues its momentum and Bitcoin consolidates near multi‑year lows. The divergence between Bitcoin and risk assets has widened this month, with Bitcoin up 6% while the S&P 500 was little changed and a basket of semiconductor stocks fell nearly 20%. Binance retained roughly 55% of user funds and about 24% of spot trading volume, drawing net inflows in early July, while the tracked market experienced outflows. Analysts added that dovish commentary from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh could support continued Bitcoin outperformance.
SK Hynix perpetual futures on Hyperliquid fell 20% to $900 before recovering to over $1,000 within a minute, according to data from the exchange. The price move occurred between 23:00 and 23:01 UTC and was denominated in the USDC stablecoin.
The rapid decline and rebound reflected thin overnight crypto liquidity, which can amplify price swings when large orders are placed. SK Hynix, a major supplier of high‑bandwidth memory chips for AI processors, saw its Korean‑listed shares drop 15% to 1.55 million won ($1,762) and the Kospi index fall 11% during the same period. The episode coincided with a 5% decline in Nvidia shares after a Wall Street Journal report suggested the chipmaker might provide a $250 billion financial backstop for an OpenAI‑linked data‑center project.
Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange focused on perpetual contracts, did not respond to a request for comment. The contract tracking SK Hynix is settled in USDC and is used by traders seeking exposure to the underlying stock without holding the shares. The flash crash occurred as liquidity in the market was limited, a pattern that analysts have noted during the transition between U.S. market close and Asian market open.
The incident underscores the volatility that can arise when crypto‑based perpetuals mirror traditional equity movements, and it remains unclear how such swings will influence short‑term trading strategies on the platform.
Maine’s virtual‑currency unclaimed‑property rule becomes effective on July 29, establishing a five‑year dormancy period. The State Treasurer’s 2026 Holder Reporting Manual lists a three‑year dormancy for virtual currency, creating a discrepancy in the reporting timeline.
Public Law Chapter 675, enacted April 13 as part of the 2026 Second Regular Session, adds Section 2067‑A to the Revised Unclaimed Property Act, presuming virtual currency abandoned after five years of no owner contact. The law also adjusts the dormancy clock when mailed notice is returned undeliverable. In contrast, the Treasurer’s manual still defines a three‑year dormancy for “VC02 Virtual Currency – Liquidated” and provides no schedule for the first reporting cycle under the new rule.
Businesses that hold the private keys or other information needed to transfer presumed‑abandoned crypto must report the property and deliver the assets within 30 days before filing, following the administrator’s directions. Those lacking sufficient transfer information must retain the assets until transfer is possible, and assets held directly by owners in personal wallets are outside the third‑party reporting process. For balances of at least $1,000 with a valid owner address, holders must send certified mail at least 60 days before filing. Liquidation of the assets is not automatic; the administrator may order liquidation, decline certain assets, exempt classes, or direct alternative disposition when liquidation is not feasible. Owners cannot recover gains that occur after an administrator‑directed liquidation. The manual indicates most holders, except life insurers, must report by November 1, but it does not specify the first reporting period under the five‑year rule or how to treat balances flagged as dormant after three years. The status of the VC02 entry in the manual remains unresolved.
The July 29 effective date does not itself trigger asset transfers, but the five‑year dormancy, notice, and reporting requirements must still be satisfied, while the Treasurer’s manual leaves holders without guidance for the initial reporting cycle.