After China, OpenAI challenges Nvidia: why is NVDA stock up?
China just built a massive AI model without Nvidia chips. Now OpenAI has found ways to use significantly fewer of these chips, lowering inference costs by more than half. Despite this, Nvidia stock rose. Here’s the puzzle. OpenAI is one of Nvidia’s (NVDA) biggest customers. The stock still rose, even though OpenAI needs fewer chips. The first area concerns software. The Information reports that OpenAI engineers succeeded in cutting inference costs by more than half through new optimization methods. OpenAI has not published technical details.
Ethereum whale Tom Lee warns of a market top as SharpLink buys 10,000 ETH
SharpLink (SBET) grew its Ethereum (ETH) holdings this week by buying 10,000 ETH and reaching a total of 886,725 ETH. At the same time, Fundstrat strategist Tom Lee said that sentiment is worse than after the FTX collapse. The company combined purchases with a share buyback, buying 2.13 million shares after it had raised $75 million last week. SharpLink considers both moves as one strategy to increase the amount of ETH behind each share.
Ethereum (ETH) begins trading in July 2026 at around the $1,570 level, close to multi-month lows, for the first time in its history after three consecutive red quarterly candles. Blockchain data and price charts now send mixed signals. Network usage continues to decline, but large holders appear to be buying, so the outlook for July remains completely open. ETH in July 2026: The number of active addresses declines to new lows Glassnode data on active addresses indicates weakening commitment. The 14-day moving average reached a peak near 795,000 addresses in early February 2026. The figure has since fallen to about 420,000—roughly a 46% drop.
Circle stock price drops 15% as a new competing stablecoin targets USDC’s enterprise customers
Circle Internet Group’s (CRCL) stock fell on Tuesday after Open Standard launched Open USD (OUSD), a dollar stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies—such as Visa, Mastercard and Coinbase—and aimed at markets where its USD Coin (USDC) is the leading token. The launch brings payment services, banks and crypto companies under one token. Currently, Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT dominate most of the stablecoin market. Open USD is aimed at corporate customers promoting the adoption of USDC. Companies can create and redeem it for free, and partners keep the returns from reserves after a small fee.
XRP’s demand is growing on the blockchain even as the price falls to its lowest level in 19 months
XRP (XRP) maintains its position above the $1 support level amid a broader downtrend. However, activity within the chain is increasing. New wallets, whale movements, and activity in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) suggest that users are entering the market even as the price appears fragile—this points to demand beneath the surface. XRP’s price drop meets steady demand As with the overall market, XRP has suffered particularly large declines this month. The altcoin fell to a 19-month low of $1.01 on June 25. It is now trading at around the $1.05 level, down 0.18% over the last day.
Australia follows Europe with a July 1 crypto rule change for all exchange transfers
Australia’s Crypto Travel Rule comes into force on 1 July. Each regulated exchange must attach the personal data of the sender and the recipient to all incoming and outgoing transfers, and there is no minimum threshold. The rule comes into effect at the same time that the deadline for the European MiCA license approaches, as Australia positions itself in the middle of a broader crackdown on crypto regulation in major markets. How the Australian Travel Rule changes the everyday life of cryptocurrency users
Andreessen joins the defense committee—without transparency rules
Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), joined the U.S. Defense Policy Board on June 29, bringing one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capital investors into the core of the United States’ national security strategy. Sotaminister Pete Hegseth announced the government’s composition and appointed former U.S. trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer as chair. Andreessen is one of 13 new members, and former Senator Norm Coleman serves as vice chair.
Solana seems more vibrant and better than Ethereum: here’s why
Solana (SOL) has performed better than the rest of the cryptocurrency market over the past week. The difference is especially noticeable in the middle of a broad price decline. Data shows that SOL is growing in popularity as two different types of trading activity — real-world asset holdings and speculation — attract users to the network at the same time. Solana differs from a declining market SOL's price is about $73.54, representing an increase of around 7% over the last seven days. Bitcoin (BTC) fell by about 4.9% over the same period, while Ethereum (ETH) fell by about 6%.
China’s LongCat-2.0 will become the biggest AI model without Nvidia chips
China has just released its largest AI model, which was trained entirely without NVIDIA chips. Meituan unveiled LongCat-2.0, an open-source large language model with 1.6 trillion parameters. The food delivery giant based in Beijing oversaw the project from start to finish with domestic hardware. A breakthrough is now changing the global AI industry’s attitude toward China’s technological self-reliance. What does Meituan’s LongCat-2.0 bring to the AI race? A large language model is an AI system that is trained on massive amounts of data. These systems understand, generate, and reason about human language across many different fields. LongCat-2.0 is one of the largest, with 1.6 trillion parameters and a 1 million token context window.
3 altcoins that crypto whales buy before July 2026
Crypto whales are reorganizing for July, and blockchain metrics tell the story. Although the prices of several major tokens fell during the last 24 hours, BeInCrypto analysts who track large wallets found three altcoins that are set to accumulate new ownership in July. The selection is based on changes in whale balances and strong protocol signals, not speculation about price. Aave (AAVE) Aave is at the top of this July altcoin list, as its blockchain base continues to expand. This time, whale interest comes from mid-sized holders, not from a single large wallet.
Ogilvy Spain CEO: AI works with the past—only humans can sell the future
Artificial intelligence can expand advertising so that each person gets their own message, but it cannot replace human creativity, says Ogilvy Spain CEO Jordi Urbea. According to him, AI only processes the past, while creativity builds the future. Urbea discussed with BeInCrypto at the Ibiza Tech Forum 2026 event. He uses AI daily in large brand campaigns. Practical experience supports his claim that emotion and surprise stay with people.
3 stocks to watch as EU digital asset holdings are reshaped with the MiCA deadline
The July 1 MiCA deadline concerns cryptoassets, but some of the biggest beneficiaries can still be found on the exchange. As Europe pushes unlicensed players out, only a few publicly listed MiCA winners—so-called MiCA stocks—remain. BeInCrypton analysts reviewed cash flows and options investments to find three names whose charts reveal how traders act with these stocks. Circle Internet Group (CRCL)
AI-exposed industries shift from 55,000 monthly hirings to steady losses
Employment is shrinking across all industries where AI has already been widely adopted. In these sectors, an average of about 11,000 jobs per month was lost over the past three months. These personal details shared by The Kobeissi Letter clearly show that automation is changing how office workers are recruited. The number of employees turns downward in industries exposed to AI The Kobeissi Letter stated that since the middle of 2023, these industries have increased the number of jobs in only two months.
RWA overtakes DeFi as the top Web3 founder sector in 2026, according to the report
Real-world assets (RWAs) and tokenization have overtaken DeFi as the leading Web3 sector for companies, says a new Proof of Talk report. The “State of Web3 Capital 2026” report is based on over 200 startup applications to the Proof of Pitch 2026 event, as well as surveys from 13 active Web3 funds. Together, they show that both founders and investors currently prefer RWA products over DeFi. RWA and tokenization are attracting both founders and investors RWA and tokenization were the primary focus for 29% of applicants. DeFi was second at 23%, and decentralized AI accounted for 11%. According to the report, the rise in tokenized assets is the clearest signal across the entire dataset.
California State Agencies Get 50% Off Anthropic Claude With New Partnership
California has a unique agreement with Anthropic that gives the state's agencies, cities, and counties access to the Claude assistant with a 50% discount. Governor Gavin Newsom announced the deal on June 29. In addition to the discounted price, the agreement includes free staff training, technical support, and assistance with workflows from Anthropic’s developers. Follow us on X for the latest news as soon as it happens California 🤝 @AnthropicAIWe're entering a partnership to strengthen cybersecurity and provide @ClaudeAI to state agencies — and California local governments — at a 50% discount.The Golden State helped build Silicon Valley — and every Californian should benefit from the…
Gold falls to the lowest level since November, facing the fourth consecutive month of losses
Gold fell to its weakest level since early November 2025, when uncertainty over the Middle East conflict weighed on the value of the metal. A selling wave spread to other precious metals. The price of silver fell 1.4% to $57.4, platinum dropped 1.25% to $1,572, and palladium slid 0.45% to $1,216. All four precious metals suffered a monthly loss. Why does the price of gold continue to fall? According to market data, gold traded at its lowest during the day at $3,942 in early Asian trading. At the time of writing, the price of gold was about $3,956, down 1.5% during the day.
WhatsApp gives 3 billion users the ability to enable usernames and hide...
WhatsApp began introducing username reservations on June 30, allowing three billion users to secure their accounts before the feature is fully released later in 2026. The change enables people to get in touch without sharing a personal phone number, reflecting demand for anonymous identity in messaging apps. The rollout will proceed in stages over the course of the week, as parent company Meta highlights privacy as a differentiating factor for its platform. How do WhatsApp usernames work?
Ouster (NASDAQ: OUST) -shares rose by more than 28% on 29 June and continued a multi-week price rally that has taken the stock to nearly $55. The increase was driven by new production and partnership agreements related to the company's Rev8 lidar platform. What drives up Ouster’s stock Ouster is a lidar company originally from San Francisco. It was founded in 2015, with founders Angus Pacala and Mark Frichtl. The company manufactures high-resolution digital lidar sensors that provide 3D vision for vehicles, robots, drones, and fixed infrastructure such as traffic management systems.
Japanese yen falls to a four-decade low as Tokyo signals decisive action
The Japanese yen fell to its weakest level since 1986, and Tokyo is again under pressure to defend the currency. The currency has fallen more than 2% during this quarter. The latest drop is the fourth consecutive quarter of losses, marking the longest losing streak since 2022, when the yen weakened for seven quarters. Tokyo signals willingness to act On Tuesday, the yen traded at a low of 162.4 per dollar during the day. At the time of writing, the rate was 162.1. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said that authorities are ready to respond to currency moves at any time.
Tesla stock rises 8 percent after the release of the FSD v14 Lite update
Tesla (TSLA) achieved its biggest single-day gain in more than a year on June 29, when the stock rose by more than 8% after the company began a major software update for its older vehicles. The rise was driven by Full Self-Driving (FSD) v14 Lite — Tesla's new self-driving software version, designed for older cars that had been without major updates for more than 14 months. Why did Tesla's stock rise? Tesla made a promise of unlocking myi millions of cars with the assurance that they would become self-driving in the future. Offering a significant update to an existing model range, without requiring the purchase of a new car, shows that Tesla can keep older customers engaged.