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MicroStrategy chief executive Phong Le has called Bitcoin (BTC) the “United States of money.” On-chain tracker Arkham says the $1 million bet he made on the firm’s preferred stock is back to break-even.
The purchase, in a securities filing, doubles as a personal wager on the company Le runs. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is fighting to hold its Stretch preferred stock (STRC) near par after a Bitcoin slump.
$1 Million Bet Back at Break-Even
A June 22 filing shows Le bought 11,000 STRC shares through his family trust. He paid a weighted-average $90.80 apiece, or about $998,756. He framed it as a long-term hold, not a trade.
That price was below STRC’s stated $100 value. Strategy designed the stock to trade near that $100 par value, adjusting its dividend monthly to defend the peg.
The company has since lifted STRC’s annual dividend to 12%, up from 9% at its July 2025 debut. That has pulled the shares back toward par. Arkham now pegs Le’s position at break-even.
STRATEGY CEO BACK IN PROFITStrategy CEO Phong Le bought $1 Million of STRC on June 22nd at ~$90. STRC is now back at $90. Will the Strategy CEO end up turning a profit on this trade? https://t.co/yOzbagLb1a pic.twitter.com/410XI9Qlpd
— Arkham (@arkham) July 2, 2026
The recovery matters because STRC anchors a preferred-stock stack now worth more than $13 billion. MicroStrategy recently outlined a new Bitcoin sales policy that could fund those dividends by selling some of its holdings.
“I bought $1 million of $STRC today. Will hold it until it reaches par, likely longer,” Le described the buy in a June post.
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Why Le Calls Bitcoin the United States of Money
Le laid out his case for Bitcoin, describing it as money set by transparent rules and a fixed supply that no government can inflate away. The asset, he argued, shields wealth from inflation, censorship, and political pressure.
“Bitcoin is the United States of money. It aspires to do for money what the American Constitution aspired to do for government: create a system governed by transparent rules rather than the discretion of individuals…But beyond that, Bitcoin is hope,” he stated.
He tied the view to his own past. He linked his family’s refugee journey from Vietnam to the belief that people should control their own money. Le has predicted Bitcoin could become a global reserve asset within a decade.
The conviction carries weight because Le runs Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder at 818,334 BTC.
Top 100 Public Bitcoin Treasury Companies. Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
Founder Michael Saylor pioneered that treasury model in 2020. Le points to banks like Goldman Sachs and Citi adding Bitcoin services as proof that the shift is real.
Not everyone shares the optimism. Bitwise has said Strategy is no longer Bitcoin’s dominant buyer. The firm also booked a $12.5 billion quarterly loss as bitcoin fell. Rival corporate Bitcoin treasuries have kept accumulating through the slump.
Whether the break-even holds depends on how STRC and Bitcoin’s bear market play out from here. For now, Le’s balance sheet and his personal account are pointing in the same direction.

IREN handed its two co-CEOs 18.2 million restricted stock units worth about $700 million, a grant equal to roughly 5% of the company and locked up through fiscal 2033.
The award went to Daniel and William Roberts, the former Macquarie bankers who founded IREN in 2018. Its calendar stretches to the end of the decade, ending on the year a rare piece of founder control expires.
A Grant Built to Run Until 2033
IREN sits among the Bitcoin miner stocks retooling for AI. The board approved 9,099,328 units for each brother on June 30. The units vest over four years, and each tranche is subject to a two-year sale ban.
The last shares come free only in fiscal 2033. Neither executive can collect another equity grant before fiscal 2031.
The timing is not incidental. IREN was listed on Nasdaq in 2021, and the brothers each hold one B Class share that carries 15 votes for every ordinary share they own, per the IPO prospectus.
That gap is wide. In August, each founder held 2.3% of the equity but 21.8% of the vote, IREN’s proxy shows. Together they command nearly 44%.
Those rights expire around November 2033. The Council of Institutional Investors urges dual-class sunsets of seven years or fewer.
The dilution thins their grip further. Share count rose from about 272 million last August to 341 million by March, funding its pivot toward AI compute.
Investors Sold the News
IREN stock fell about 10% to $38.82 on July 2, according to TradingView data. The drop stung even by the standards of volatile crypto mining stocks.
IREN Stock Performance. Source: TradingView
Short seller Jim Chanos flagged the size. He put the award near 17% of IREN’s projected cumulative adjusted net income from fiscal 2027 through 2030. The shares vest on time served, not performance.
Huh…?! If the stock drops 50% over the next four years they will still own shares worth $400 million. How is that pay for “performance”…?! $IREN
— James Chanos (@RealJimChanos) July 3, 2026
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IREN’s board said it weighed performance and hybrid designs first. It cast the award as the close of a multi-year pay plan.
“The Equity Grants are designed to retain and incentivize the Co-CEOs to lead the Company through its next phase of growth and the execution of its long-term strategic plan,” IREN said in its filing.
By fading founder votes and locking fresh stock to 2033, the deal reads as alignment or entrenchment. The answer will follow the wider mining-to-AI transition and what the brothers deliver.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officially ended on July 4, the sunset date written into President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order. Posts from Elon Musk and Michael Saylor quickly fueled speculation that Bitcoin (BTC) inherits the reform story.
Musk, DOGE’s former co-leader, marked Independence Day with a patriotic video montage instead of a farewell to the program. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy’s executive chairman answered him with one loaded line.
DOGE Ends With No Report and No Farewell
Trump’s January 2025 executive order created DOGE as a temporary organization. It set termination for July 4, 2026, America’s 250th birthday.
The program barely made it that far. DOGE had already collapsed as a centralized body last November, months ahead of schedule. Its public savings tracker went silent after January 1.
The commission claimed $215 billion in savings, about $1,335 per taxpayer by its own math. That equals roughly 3% of one year’s $7 trillion federal budget, and a fraction of the $2 trillion Musk pitched in October 2024.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told lawmakers this week that no closing report is planned, Politico reported.
Musk, who left Washington in May 2025 after 130 days as a special government employee, always framed the ending as intentional.
The final step of @DOGE is to delete itself https://t.co/ZCj2NvHm1U
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 2, 2024
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The efficiency concept has meanwhile traveled beyond Washington. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently launched a municipal efficiency version of the playbook.
Michael Saylor Answers Musk With a Bitcoin Pitch
Marc Andreessen opened July 4 with a five-minute montage of American history and the caption “God bless America.” Musk shared the same video hours later.
Saylor then replied to Musk directly, swapping a letter for the Bitcoin symbol.
We can still make something ₿etter.
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) July 4, 2026
Saylor has run this play before. In December 2020, he publicly urged Musk to shift Tesla’s balance sheet into Bitcoin. Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth two months later, then suspended BTC payments in May 2021 over energy concerns.
That history shaped the reaction. Traders read the exchange as a handoff from government reform to sound money, and some replies urged Tesla to resume Bitcoin payments. BTC trades near $62,584, up about 1% in 24 hours.
Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
The timing carries irony for Saylor. Strategy faces questions over a reported 491 BTC sale and a dividend policy JPMorgan called risky. Meanwhile, Saylor pits MSTR against the Magnificent 7.
Neither Musk nor Saylor mentioned DOGE by name. The debate now turns on whether innovation and Bitcoin truly replace the reform push, or whether the ₿etter reply stays a holiday flourish.

Nearly 1 million buyers of the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin are sitting on a combined $3.81 billion in losses, according to blockchain analytics firm Nansen. The TRUMP meme coin now trades roughly 98% below its January 2025 record high.
The losses look like the final stage of a familiar meme coin cycle. Early buyers captured most of the gains, while later arrivals absorbed the decline that followed the launch hype.
Official Trump (TRUMP) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto The TRUMP Meme Coin Cycle Played Out in 18 Months
TRUMP launched on January 17, 2025, three days before President Donald Trump’s second inauguration. Its price jumped from below $1 to a record $73.43 within two days. That briefly lifted its market value near $15 billion.
Nansen tracked about 1.48 million wallets that bought the token. Just under 500,000 locked in profits worth roughly $4 billion. Most of those gains went to early traders who sold into the first rally.
The buyers who followed became the exit liquidity. Nansen counted 988,905 wallets underwater, about two out of every three, once paper losses are included. The token’s own website had warned that it was not an investment.
“Everybody’s profiting.” -President TrumpExcept the people who bought his coins.Trump family crypto earnings: $1.4 billion$TRUMP meme coin: -98%$MELANIA meme coin: -99%Perhaps the most blatant example of corruption in the history of American politics. pic.twitter.com/SlNdRmWFvg
— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) July 1, 2026
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The outcome fit a pattern that analysts flagged for celebrity meme coins from the start. A month later, Argentina saw a faster version. President Javier Milei promoted the LIBRA token in February 2025. Its near $4 billion valuation collapsed within hours, triggering a fraud probe.
The Token Earned for Its Backers Regardless of Price
The design meant the decline barely touched the people behind it. The token’s code routes a share of every trade to creator-linked wallets. Chainalysis traced more than $324 million in such fees to those addresses in the months after launch.
Those fees accrued whether buyers won or lost. Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure later listed a $636 million windfall from the meme coin. The royalties were routed through CIC Digital, the Trump-linked entity behind the token.
Retail buyers had little legal cover. In a February 2025 statement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said meme coins are not securities. That left the market outside its oversight.
Economist Peter Schiff has called the tokens a way to buy access to the president rather than a real investment.
“He’s actually had events at the White House where the top owners of Trump coin are allowed to attend. But it’s really a way to bribe the president. You don’t have to give him money directly, just buy his token, because who else would buy the token? It’s a lousy investment,” he said.
The White House rejects that view. According to a New York Times report, Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said there are no conflicts of interest and that the president acts in the public interest.
TRUMP set an all-time low of $1.50 in early June and has barely recovered. Appetite across the wider meme coin market has stayed subdued. The token now trades close to $1.79, little changed over the past month. Its market value sits near $424 million, ranking around 115th.
Political branding drew far more attention than a typical meme coin. It did not rewrite the math. The TRUMP token traced the same boom-and-bust arc as the speculative coins that came before it.

Charles Hoskinson expects the Ouroboros Leios upgrade to multiply Cardano’s capacity by 60 times, a leap that would put the network on par with the XRP Ledger in terms of speed.
The founder also defended Midnight City against critics and outlined the upgrade’s next steps.
Leios: Cardano’s Bet to Catch the XRP Ledger
Ouroboros Leios is an upgrade to Cardano’s protocol designed to multiply transaction capacity without sacrificing decentralization or security. Charles Hoskinson explained its scope during an interview with David Gokhshtein on “The Breakdown podcast”.
According to the founder, the technology will increase the network’s internal throughput by up to 60x. That jump, he said, would leave Cardano with performance comparable to the XRP Ledger, a network known for its efficiency.
“Leios will be a 60x in terms of throughput inside the system, so we’re good, we’re as performant as XRP, and we still kept our principles,” Hoskinson said.
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The Breakdown #739: Crypto Is Back and Moving Again https://t.co/KrGUe9wm0m
— David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) July 2, 2026
The comparison carries weight. The XRPL built its reputation on settlements between three and five seconds and a maximum capacity of 1,500 transactions per second. In March 2026, that network surpassed 120 TPS during a peak with roughly 650 operations.
Hoskinson stressed that these improvements do not mean giving up the project’s founding principles. The industry knows this dilemma as the blockchain trilemma, where scaling often demands trade-offs between decentralization and security. Cardano wants to prove that exchange is not inevitable.
The path is already underway. The public Leios testnet, named Musashi Dojo, debuted on June 23, 2026. It marks the protocol’s first operation in a live network environment. Mainnet deployment is expected before the end of this year.
Hoskinson Defends Midnight City After Big Pey’s Criticism
Hoskinson also responded firmly to questions about Midnight City. Content creator Big Pey labeled the initiative an example of wasteful spending within the ecosystem.
According to the critic, the team invested millions of dollars in a project that was unable to attract new users. He described that strategy as the “Cardano Way,” referring to investments that yield no immediate commercial returns.
The reply came at once. Hoskinson said he had lost all respect for Big Pey as an entrepreneur and criticized him for failing to understand how consumer products evolve. He even challenged the critic to save the post and return in a year to apologize.
I've just lost all respect for you as an entrepreneur. You clearly have no clue how adoption or consumer experiences work. Save this tweet and come back in a year to apologize. Midnight City is one of the most important applications on Midnight and will be one of the keys to…
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 2, 2026
Midnight City works as an interactive showcase for Midnight Network, the privacy-focused chain tied to Cardano. The platform translates complex blockchain mechanics into a retro-futuristic 2D city inhabited by AI agents.
Those agents generate transactions and economic behavior similar to everyday use by consumers and businesses.
Institutional interest supports that vision. Midnight already added Monument Bank, Google, and AlphaTON Capital, and is holding talks with investment banks in the United States and Europe.
For Hoskinson, 2026 will be a beta year meant to strengthen the infrastructure before mainstream adoption.
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Germany’s savings and cooperative banks are rolling out crypto trading to retail clients, wiring Bitcoin (BTC) into the apps of institutions that hold roughly 80 million customer relationships in a country of 84 million people.
The Sparkassen serve about 50 million customers, per DSGV data, and the cooperative banks another 30 million, per BVR figures. Both groups dismissed the asset class as too risky just four years ago.
German Banks That Rejected Crypto Trading Now Court Millions
According to Bloomberg, both groups are building in-house services rather than steering clients to outside exchanges. DZ Bank’s meinKrypto platform already runs inside the VR Banking App, offering BTC, Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Cardano (ADA).
BaFin licensed meinKrypto under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework in late December 2025, per DZ Bank’s announcement. Boerse Stuttgart Digital handles custody, keeping the whole chain under German supervision.
DekaBank is building the equivalent product for the roughly 340 savings banks, with a phased launch later this year. Each of the almost 650 cooperative banks and every Sparkasse opts in individually. DZ Bank product specialist Markus Bärenfänger expects hundreds to join.
Germany’s Local Banks Bring Crypto Trading to Millions in Major Mainstream Adoption Push
The reversal is stark. The savings banks considered crypto trading in 2021, then shelved it over incalculable risks. MiCA has since opened the door for Germany’s largest financial institutions.
Trust Advantage Collides With Total Loss Warnings
The trust math explains the bet. Germans trust their primary bank twice as much as specialized crypto platforms, 38% to 19%, per a Boerse Stuttgart Digital survey. However, only about a quarter have invested in crypto, in line with broader European adoption figures.
That trust is precisely what worries critics. Co-Pierre Georg, professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, argues that traditional bank customers may not grasp the risks.
“It is concerning that the floodgates to the cryptocurrency market are now being opened by savings and cooperative banks,” Co-Pierre Georg, professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, via Bloomberg.
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Even the savings banks’ own lobby group, DSGV, calls crypto a highly speculative investment carrying the risk of total loss. It frames the service as suitable for self-directed investors only.
Timing sharpens the debate. Bitcoin trades near $62,483 after falling roughly 50% from its October 2025 record of $126,080.
Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
The German lenders also join a wider European shift. UBS opened crypto trading for private clients in January.
For local banks, the payoff may be relevance rather than revenue. Westerwald Bank chief Ralf Kölbach warns that lenders skipping crypto lose younger, tech-savvy customers.
The bigger test is whether bank-branded credibility can survive the market’s next deep drawdown.

France will stop certifying security products that lack quantum-resistant encryption from 2027. The decision hands fresh urgency to Algorand’s (ALGO) pledge to deliver broad quantum security across its blockchain by the end of that same year.
The French cybersecurity agency ANSSI announced the cutoff at the France Quantum conference in Paris. Meanwhile, Washington is accelerating post-quantum cryptography across federal and national security systems.
Quantum Security Becomes a Procurement Requirement
Samih Souissi, ANSSI’s chief of staff, said the agency will certify only quantum-resistant security products from 2027, Reuters reported on June 16.
He added that businesses should buy only quantum-safe products by 2030. ANSSI certification is a gateway for sales into French government agencies and critical infrastructure. The qualification process typically takes 12 to 18 months, so vendors starting now barely fit the window.
Souissi framed the policy as reaching well beyond technology.
“It’s not only a technical issue. It’s a matter of governance, industrial planning, regulation, and sovereignty.”
The fear driving these deadlines is the harvest now, decrypt later attack. Adversaries can store encrypted data today and read it once quantum computers mature. Certification, therefore, cannot wait for that moment to arrive.
The US is moving on a parallel track. President Trump signed quantum executive orders on June 22. The order requires federal agencies to adopt approved post-quantum standards by the end of 2031.
Separately, the National Security Agency (NSA) requires new national security acquisitions to support quantum-resistant algorithms from January 2027.
Algorand Races Its Own End-2027 Deadline
The Algorand Foundation published its post-quantum roadmap in June, targeting quantum resilience across every network layer by the end of 2027. The plan covers user wallets, developer tooling, and consensus.
France just said it will stop certifying security products that aren't quantum-resistant starting in 2027.The US is already fast-tracking post-quantum cryptography across federal systems.Governments are preparing for Q-Day now, because migration takes years.Algorand's…
— Algorand (@Algorand) July 3, 2026
Native post-quantum accounts arrive in Q3 2026, built on the lattice-based Falcon signature scheme. Algorand has used Falcon for State Proofs since 2022. Multi-signature support and a foundation treasury migration will follow before year-end, according to the roadmap.
Markets are already pricing the theme. ALGO trades near $0.089, up 1.2% in 24 hours, with a market cap of roughly $796 million.
Algorand (ALGO) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
In contrast, quantum-resistant tokens outpaced Bitcoin (BTC) by 59.3% during May’s selloff, per Binance Research.
The pressure is not limited to one chain. Google Quantum AI research recently cut the estimated hardware needed to break Ethereum’s account security by 20 times.
France and the US have converged on 2027 as the year quantum readiness becomes a pass-fail procurement test. Whether rival chains can match Algorand’s schedule may determine which networks institutions trust with decades’ worth of data.

JPMorgan just turned cautious on gold in the short term. The bank cut its Q4 2026 forecast by roughly 25% to $4,500 per ounce, down from around $6,000. The recalibration follows weaker demand from key buying sectors.
This move signals fresh caution ahead, even as JPMorgan keeps its longer-term bullish thesis fully intact.
JPMorgan Slashed Its Gold Forecast 25%
A price forecast is an analyst’s projection of where an asset may trade over a defined future period. JPMorgan now projects an average gold price of $4,300 per ounce in the third quarter. Furthermore, it sees the metal rising to $4,500 in Q4.
The cut is significant in scale. The bank previously targeted roughly $6,000 per ounce by the fourth quarter. As a result, the new $4,500 target represents a roughly 25% reduction from prior expectations for the same period.
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GOLD LIKELY TO STAY RANGE-BOUND IN NEAR TERM, THEN RISE TO $4,500/oz IN Q4: JPMORGANJPMorgan expects gold prices to move sideways in the short term due to mixed market signals.It forecasts a stronger rebound later in the year, with prices potentially averaging around $4,500…
— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) July 4, 2026
The recalibration stems from softer demand. Purchasing power has weakened among gold’s major demand centers. Moreover, the metal has become more sensitive to shifts in real interest rates, capping the near-term price ceiling.
The bank described the situation as “range-bound”. As a result, traders should expect sideways price action before any second-half recovery takes hold.
Other institutions remain more bullish. Goldman Sachs sees $4,900 per ounce by the end of 2026, driven by sovereign demand and emerging-market central bank diversification.
Furthermore, UBS targets $5,200 over the next 12 months as markets reassess Fed policy and dollar pressure intensifies. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley also eyes $5,200 in H2 2026, but warns that gold needs stronger ETF inflows first.
The precious metal is currently trading at $4,175, up 1.26% over the last 24 hours. However, it is now down 26% from its all-time high near $5,600 reached in January 2026, according to TradingView data.
Gold (XAU) Price Performance. Source: TradingView Why JPMorgan’s Long-Term Bullish View Holds
Despite the cut, JPMorgan’s medium- to long-term view remains firmly positive. The bank pointed to two structural forces that could drive gold prices through 2027. Each factor supports demand well beyond the current short-term consolidation phase across global markets.
First, central banks worldwide continue accumulating gold reserves at an increased pace. Furthermore, physical demand for the precious metal is expected to keep strengthening over the coming months. Both trends provide a durable floor under prices across the entire outlook.
Second, institutional investors continue to allocate tangible portions of their portfolios to gold for hedging purposes. Moreover, that pattern shows no sign of reversing. As a result, JPMorgan expects gold to retain its role as both a safe-haven asset and an alternative reserve currency.
The JPMorgan forecast also carries implications for crypto markets. Gold and Bitcoin have traded as competing macro hedges throughout 2025 and into 2026. As a result, a “range-bound” gold price could potentially shift some institutional capital toward the crypto market in the short term.
However, the bank’s long-term bullish stance means gold will not lose its importance as a store of value any time soon. The near-term caution simply reflects a temporary pause rather than a structural break in the broader multi-year uptrend.
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Revolut will delist Tether (USDT) for European Union users on August 31. The USDT delisting stems from Tether’s decision not to seek authorization under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
Customers can buy USDT until July 6. A staged wind-down then runs through late August, when leftover balances convert to fiat.
Revolut USDT Delisting Runs on a Staged Timeline
Revolut confirmed the change in a July 3 post on X, pointing users to a DefiLlama dashboard of licensed options. The fintech built a $75 billion valuation serving more than 75 million customers.
MiCA is changing how Europeans access crypto. If you’re affected, it’s worth reviewing your options.With Revolut Crypto, you can buy, sell, transfer, and stake crypto from the same app you use for your everyday finances — trusted by over 75 million customers.For more powerful…
— Revolut (@Revolut) July 3, 2026
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New USDT deposits stop on July 30. Customers can sell or withdraw the token to external wallets until August 31. After that date, remaining balances convert automatically to fiat at prevailing exchange rates.
MiCA moved into full enforcement on July 1, and regulators have expanded the register of licensed providers to 280 firms. Tether stayed out, echoing its absence from earlier approval rounds under the framework.
The rules require significant stablecoin issuers to hold at least 60% of reserves as bank deposits. CEO Paolo Ardoino has argued that structure creates liquidity risks. Tether already retired its euro stablecoin, EURT, in November 2024 rather than adapting it.
Audit Questions Cloud Tether’s Regulatory Standing
For Tether, missing the EU’s licensed lists is unsurprising given its long-running audit controversy. Consumers’ Research recently criticized Tether’s audit record, faulting the issuer for failing to provide an independent review of its reserves.
The group raised the concern in a letter to US governors.
“Tether’s continual failure to undergo an independent audit raises a distressing red flag for the company and its USDT product. Tether has promised that it would conduct a full audit since at least 2017 but has still failed to do so. … Years later, there is still no audit.”
Tether has long relied on quarterly attestations instead of full audits. In an April 2025 interview, Ardoino said the firm was still seeking a top-tier audit partner. He argued that major accounting firms remain cautious about stablecoin clients after crypto’s exchange failures and hacks.
The audit gap could remain a key barrier to any future MiCA authorization.
USDC Extends Its Lead in Europe
The move strengthens Circle’s USDC, which holds MiCA authorization and keeps its listings on licensed venues. Circle has emerged as MiCA’s quiet winner while USDT exits regulated European platforms.
Despite the retreat, USDT remains the largest stablecoin worldwide and the third-largest crypto asset. It trades near $1.00 with a $184 billion market cap and $41 billion in daily volume as of July 4.
Tether Tops All Stablecoin Market Caps. Source: DefiLlama
USDC’s market cap stands near $73 billion, less than half of USDT’s. The gap suggests that Tether is trading regulated European access for scale elsewhere.
Early Revolut investor Max Karpis said the delisting reverses the fintech’s recent expansion of its stablecoin features.
“Revolut is delisting USDT on 31 Aug 2026 (regulatory/risk reasons). Not long ago, they expanded support to include zero-fee transfers and 1:1 USDT/USDC swaps. Now a reversal. Compliance hits again.”
The coming weeks will show whether Revolut users rotate into USDC or move USDT to self-custody before the cutoff.

The Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA) has shifted to a neutral stance on the CLARITY Act. The group dropped its opposition after discussions with the administration regarding Section 604 of the digital asset bill.
In a July 3 letter to Senate Banking leaders Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, the group cited additional clarity. Recent talks addressed how the provision would be interpreted and implemented.
Why the Sheriffs Changed Course on the CLARITY Act
MCSA represents sheriffs’ offices in counties of 500,000 residents or more, serving over 120 million Americans. That reach covers roughly one-third of the US population, which gave its May 14 objection real weight.
The dispute centers on Section 604, also known as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. The provision shields non-custodial developers who do not control customer funds from money transmission rules.
Police groups had warned that the language could complicate prosecutions of crypto-enabled financial crime. Their resistance fed broader law enforcement opposition over the same section. However, supporters counter that the provision preserves liability for anyone who knowingly moves illicit funds.
“Based on that continued review, MCSA is now neutral on H.R. 3633. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress and the Administration on targeted improvements to the bill…”
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, Florida, signed the letter. Gualtieri began a two-year term as MCSA president in February.
🚨NEWS: The Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA) has shifted to a “neutral” position on the Clarity Act after what it describes as “continued discussions in recent days regarding parts of Section 604,” aka the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.In a letter to Senate Banking… pic.twitter.com/24XIZTfWHR
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) July 3, 2026
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Sheriffs Want a Seat at the Table and More Resources
The organization stopped short of an endorsement. Instead, it asked Congress for a formal state and local role in the Section 309 Treasury study. It also seeks seats on advisory bodies and interagency working groups created under the Act.
The letter further requested funding for training, technology, and blockchain forensics. MCSA says local agencies handle most digital asset crime, from fraud and ransomware to narcotics trafficking and child exploitation.
The shift lands one day after NOBLE delivered the first police endorsement of the bill. Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Lummis has defended the bill against Warren’s claims of illicit finance, citing more than 16 built-in safeguards.
America has led every great technological revolution — the railroad, the internet, the smartphone. Digital assets are next. The Clarity Act makes sure we don't hand that lead to someone else.
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 2, 2026
The bill still needs 60 Senate votes before the August recess. Galaxy Research recently cut passage odds to 50% as floor time shrinks. Investor Mark Chadwick argued the sheriffs’ shift removes a major obstacle from that math.
“This is bigger than it looks…Their opposition was one of the biggest roadblocks in the Senate, reinforcing law enforcement concerns and stalling momentum. With that hurdle now out of the way, the path to passage just got a lot clearer. One more major hurdle down,” he wrote.
The coming weeks will show whether Congress folds the sheriffs’ requests into a bill that already earmarks $150 million for enforcement. For now, the loudest local objection has left the field.

Speculation about another Bitcoin sale from MicroStrategy intensified after an unconfirmed on-chain transfer showed 491 BTC leaving a company-linked wallet on July 1. Neither MicroStrategy nor its Executive Chairman, Michael Saylor, has confirmed any sale.
The rumor spread across X (Twitter) on Friday. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) traded higher after July 1, suggesting the market easily absorbed the alleged transaction.
Bitcoin Price Performance. source: TradingView Did Saylor Sell More Bitcoin?
Pseudonymous trader Light flagged the transfer, worth roughly $30 million at current prices. That equals just 0.058% of the 847,363 BTC Strategy reported in its latest SEC disclosure. The stack covers about 4% of bitcoin’s 21 million coin supply.
light is claiming that Strategy has begun to sell BTCAny on-chain sleuth to confirm this statement? pic.twitter.com/2dm2RgM3f8
— VIKTOR (@thedefivillain) July 2, 2026
The timing explains the attention. Strategy adopted a Bitcoin monetization framework plan on June 29, authorizing up to $1.25 billion in tactical sales to fund dividends and buybacks. Its raised 12% STRC preferred dividend took effect on July 1, the same day as the alleged transfer.
The company also completed its first Bitcoin sale since 2022 in late May, offloading 32 BTC to cover preferred stock dividends. Its only earlier sale came in December 2022.
Back then, it sold 704 BTC for $11.8 million to harvest tax losses, then repurchased 810 BTC within days. It had already been rebuilding its cash reserves this year while slowing new purchases.
“Michael Saylor’s Strategy may have just sold 491 BTC on July 1st. The transaction hasn’t been confirmed yet, but if true, this would be one of the first signs of Strategy reducing its Bitcoin position after years of “never sell” narratives…” analyst Crypto Rover amplified the claim in a post.
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Bitcoin Shrugs Off the Sale Speculation
Bitcoin showed little stress. The coin opened at $61,492 on Friday, up 2.5% from Thursday, and traded for $62,016 as of this writing, up by 1.35% in the last 24 hours. With this, the pioneer crypto is up by over 7% from the July 1 low of $57,800.
Bitcoin Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
The strength tracked a weak June jobs report rather than treasury headlines. It extends a fragile Bitcoin price recovery after the worst month for prices in four years.
Reactions on X (Twitter) split between traders calling the amount a rounding error and others warning repeated sales could sour sentiment.
The calm contrasts with JPMorgan’s recent warning that the new sales policy adds risk to the crypto market. Even so, a fully absorbed $30 million transfer suggests demand currently outweighs those concerns.
Confirmation now rests with Strategy’s own disclosures. The firm reported its May sale within days, so a filing this week would show whether the transfer was a sale, a custody move, or an internal shuffle.

President Donald Trump is privately weighing clemency for Sean “Diddy” Combs while Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) remains shut out. The SBF pardon application sits untouched even as Trump signed six emissions-related pardons on Friday.
Sources say a Friday White House meeting focused on Clean Air Act cases only. High-profile requests remain under private discussion.
Diddy Clemency Talks Reach the Oval Office
Sources told CBS News that Trump has been privately discussing clemency requests, including one from Combs. The music mogul is serving just over four years at Fort Dix after his 2025 conviction on two prostitution-related transportation counts.
Jurors acquitted him of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Trump told the Times in January that Combs had written him a letter seeking a pardon, though he said he was not considering it then.
However, Combs was not expected on the pardons team’s Friday list. Reports in May said Trump was weighing 250 pardons to mark America’s 250th birthday.
Friday’s signings deepen an established pattern instead. Trump pardoned Wyoming mechanic Troy Lake last year over similar emissions charges, and a June 29 executive order told the EPA to deprioritize tampering enforcement.
Trump confirmed the new pardons in a Friday post on Truth Social.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car.’ … I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”
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Where Does the SBF Pardon Stand?
The FTX founder filed a formal pardon application with the Justice Department on June 8, requesting relief after completing his 25-year sentence. The petition remains pending.
Trump has shown no movement on it. In the same January interview, he said he had no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried. A federal appeals court then crushed his retrial bid in June, leaving the sentence intact.
The contrast with Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is instructive. Trump granted the Binance founder a full pardon on October 21, 2025. CZ had served four months for an anti-money laundering compliance failure, while Binance paid $4.3 billion to settle.
SBF’s case reads differently in Washington. Prosecutors put the FTX fraud at $8 billion, and Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego introduced a resolution opposing any pardon.
Even strong recoveries have not softened that stance. The FTX Recovery Trust has returned roughly $10 billion, with smaller claims recovering up to 120% of 2022 values.
Meanwhile, his market takes from prison revived pardon chatter this week without changing his legal position.
The pattern suggests a firm line in Trump’s clemency thinking. Convictions he frames as regulatory overreach win relief quickly, while large-scale customer fraud stays frozen.
Whether the July Fourth window produces additional names could show how far that distinction stretches.

XRP just recorded higher trading volume than Bitcoin on Upbit. The altcoin now trades above a recently reclaimed resistance level.
As a result, analysts are watching whether XRP holds enough momentum to challenge the next major zone. The surge in activity places the $1.15 level squarely at the center of trader attention.
XRP Trading Volume Tops Bitcoin on Upbit. Source: CoinGecko Renewed Interest in XRP?
Trading volume measures the amount of an asset exchanged over a specific period. Rising volume is often seen as a sign of increasing market participation. It typically reflects stronger investor interest across both retail and institutional trading channels.
The altcoin generated roughly 113.18 million XRP in trading volume on Upbit over the past 24 hours. As a result, the token surpassed Bitcoin and became one of the exchange’s most actively traded digital assets.
The move drew immediate attention across South Korean crypto markets.
JUST IN: XRP trades at $1.09 on South Korea's largest exchange Upbit, with 24H volume of 113,178M outpacing Bitcoin's turnover on the platform. pic.twitter.com/caYIjKv9cz
— 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸XRP (@BankXRP) July 3, 2026
The timing is notable for the token. XRP recently moved above $1.10. That area had repeatedly capped previous recovery attempts.
Moreover, holding above the zone has improved the short-term technical structure and reinforced expectations of continued buying interest.
Analysts note that the latest move built a more constructive market setup. XRP is now attempting to form a sequence of higher lows and higher highs. That pattern is commonly associated with strengthening bullish momentum across major crypto assets.
The breakout has clearly attracted attention. However, traders remain focused on whether the token can maintain support above former resistance levels. As a result, sustained demand will likely be necessary to maintain the current upward trend.
XRP Price Performance – 7D. Source: BeInCrypto Why the $1.15 Level Is Drawing Attention
The next major area under observation sits between $1.14 and $1.15. This range combines short-term selling pressure with a widely monitored long-term moving average. It now represents a potentially significant obstacle for the token.
A successful move above $1.15 could strengthen confidence among market participants. Furthermore, it would likely shift attention toward higher price levels. Conversely, failure to break through the area may lead to additional consolidation before another attempt.
Analysts also note the importance of XRP holding above $1.09 during any short-term pullback. In technical analysis, a former resistance level that becomes support often confirms a more sustainable breakout. That flip strengthens the broader bullish case.
$XRP did the one job: reclaim $1.10.Swept the downside liquidity at $1.0369, now holding $1.09 support as fresh ground.Hold above $1.09 and $1.15 is the next test…Lose it and the flush to $1.07 comes fast.Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/UWmPZZLOBW
— Alex Marzell (@MarzellCrypto) July 3, 2026
Beyond $1.15, the next notable target remains the $1.20 to $1.30 zone. That area has repeatedly rejected previous rallies. Furthermore, it remains one of the most important resistance regions on the entire XRP chart.
Supporting the bullish narrative, XRP remains above its breakout level as market activity continues to expand. The token is currently trading around $1.11 after surging 2.25% over the last 24 hours, according to BeInCrypto data.
Buyers appear to have maintained control since the move above the resistance level.
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Is $XRP next to pump?XRP is about to break above its 12-month downtrend.A 3D close above $1.2 could trigger a relief rally. pic.twitter.com/PvgTmRXO9E
— Max Crypto (@MaxCrypto) July 3, 2026
The latest recovery also follows a period of prolonged weakness. XRP’s monthly RSI recently reached its most oversold reading on record. That extreme prompted some observers to consider the possibility of a broader trend reversal across the coming sessions.

Israeli prosecutors on Friday indicted Eli Lavon, a 21-year-old US citizen, for allegedly spying on behalf of Iranian intelligence in exchange for roughly $1,379 in crypto. The case shows Iran’s alleged crypto recruitment playbook maturing into gig work for espionage.
Lavon is reportedly the first American indicted in Israel’s spy wave, which counts at least 60 defendants since 2023. In many cases, small payments rather than ideology appear to drive recruits.
A Job Ad, Three Phones, and $1,379
According to the indictment, Lavon answered a Telegram job advertisement in November 2025 while visiting family in the US. A handler working for Iranian intelligence began assigning tasks once he returned to Israel.
He allegedly filmed an abandoned building and a grocery store in Jerusalem. He also left dead drops, including a USB drive wrapped in a 50 shekel note.
The crypto arrived in small batches, first hundreds of dollars, then about $518 from a second handler. The output had real military value, however. Several sites filmed by alleged recruits in this wave were later struck by Iranian missiles.
Arrested on June 9, Lavon faces two counts of contact with a foreign agent and 14 counts of communicating information to the enemy.
“This indictment illustrates how foreign intelligence agencies attempt to exploit the digital sphere to identify, recruit, and operate individuals from within Israel…” Ronit Shentzer Yaakobi of the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
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Crypto Recruitment Moves From Spying to Sabotage
The playbook no longer stops at surveillance. HAYI, a group that surfaced online in March, has claimed 17 arson and sabotage incidents across seven European countries. Analysis suggests it may be a “fabricated front” run by Iran-linked operatives using paid, disposable recruits.
British police have detained at least 28 people over the London attacks alone. A Belgian teenager was reportedly paid to stage an Antwerp arson later claimed by HAYI. Another teen charged over a London synagogue fire told investigators he did not know what the building was.
Each element mirrors gig work. Tasks arrive through consumer apps, payment clears per job, and recruits stay ignorant of the wider operation. Researchers describe the tactic as hybrid warfare because paid intermediaries blur any link to state planners.
The economic factors set this model apart from traditional terrorism financing. When OFAC sanctioned 134 ISIS-K wallets on July 1, analysts traced roughly $1.4 million into them since 2023. Lavon’s alleged payroll was about a thousandth of that, and Tether still froze 131 sanctioned wallets within a day.
Large networks, in other words, have become visible. Courts have secured terrorism financing convictions on onchain records, and probes into Iran-linked crypto networks chased billion-dollar flows.
A $500 gig payout offers far less signal, a gap that US lawmakers have barely addressed in their debate on illicit finance loopholes.
Whether blockchain surveillance built for large transfers can adapt to micro-payments may decide how quickly such networks unravel.

A new BeInCrypto Intelligence report, built with market data from RWA.xyz and feedback from BeInCrypto’s Expert Council, tracks roughly $60 billion in tokenized real-world assets across more than 7,000 products and 12 asset classes.
The findings show a market that is growing, but still narrow.
Just 62 assets hold 88% of total value. Five products account for roughly half the market: Figure HELOC, Circle USYC, Tether Gold, BlackRock BUIDL, and Justoken JMWH.
The activity gap is just as stark. Across 1,289 tokenized assets valued above $100,000, 910 assets worth $32.9 billion showed zero weekly transfers.
Access is also limited. The report found that 97% of the market sits outside US retail reach. Only about $1.7 billion is legally accessible to US retail investors.
Meanwhile, tokenized stocks are growing fast by product count, but the report found that 59% of stock tokens provide synthetic price exposure rather than actual ownership of the underlying shares.
These findings raise a direct question: is tokenization failing to deliver on liquidity, or is the market still in an early infrastructure phase?
BeInCrypto asked five industry executives to respond to the report’s findings.
Real State of Tokenization in 2026 Securitize: The First Phase Was Never About Public Trading
Tal Elyashiv, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of SPiCE Venture Capital and Co-Founder of Securitize, said the report’s finding on tokenized equities points to a real structural issue.
“My stance on what the report shows about tokenizing shares/equity, is that this tokenization needs to be at the source. Tokenization that does not include full ownership is problematic at best, and completely wrong IMHO. This is exactly what Securitize is doing.”
Tal Elyashiv, Co-Founder of Securitize
Elyashiv also argued that low transfer activity should not be read as failure in every case. Many early tokenized products were designed for institutional issuance, compliance, and settlement, rather than public secondary trading.
“Many of the first assets tokenized were funds (VC funds, private funds). Tokenization in these cases was not done to facilitate retail/public trading, but rather to upgrade institutional issuance infrastructure, compliance, and settlement. BUIDL for example, was created for institutional TradFi and DeFi use cases (and this is what it serves)”
That view matches one of the report’s central distinctions. Some assets are Distributed and can move across public blockchain rails. Others are Represented, using blockchain mainly as a digital record of an off-chain position.
For Elyashiv, that first stage had to prove resilience before tokenized assets could move into broader distribution.
“The previous stage needed to succeed and show resilience, as well as regulatory clarity, before moving to the public trading stage. But we are entering that phase.”
Real State of Tokenization in 2026 Raiku: Activity Depends on Predictable Execution
Robin Nordnes, CEO and Founder of Raiku, said the dormancy data points to a deeper infrastructure problem.
The report found that more than half of tokenized market value showed no weekly transfer activity. Nordnes said this is not mainly about asset quality or regulation. He said institutions need predictable execution before they actively manage capital on-chain.
Robin Nordnes, CEO and Founder of Raiku
“The dormancy finding doesn’t surprise me, and I don’t think it’s primarily a regulatory story or an asset quality story,” Nordnes asserts. “What we hear consistently from institutional allocators is that they won’t actively manage capital on-chain until they can answer two questions with confidence: will my transaction execute, and when… For passive holding that’s tolerable. For active trading, collateral management or intraday rebalancing, it isn’t.”
That issue becomes more important if tokenized assets are used for active trading, collateral management, or daily fund operations. In those settings, uncertainty around settlement timing can affect spreads, liquidity buffers, and portfolio decisions.
“The transaction fee is actually the smaller part of the problem,” Nordnes explains. “The bigger cost of execution uncertainty is everything that sits around it: the wider spreads you need to run if you can’t guarantee timing, the liquidity buffers you hold because you might not execute when you need to, the positions you simply don’t take because the uncertainty makes the trade unmodelable.”
D3: The Weak Spots Show Where Growth May Come From
The report found that only one of 12 asset classes has reached production-grade maturity: US Treasury debt.
Fred Hsu, Co-Founder and CEO of D3, said that finding should not be read only as a weakness. Instead, he said it shows where tokenization may have the most room to create value.
Fred Hsu, Co-Founder and CEO of D3
“Only treasuries have reached production grade so far, and almost every other class is still concentrated or experimental. That looks like a weakness, but it is really a map of where the value is. The classes that never matured are the fragmented, illiquid markets traditional finance never priced well, because tracking ownership and moving value cost too much. The asset was always real, what was missing was a way to reach it. The infrastructure that finally reaches those markets is what decides where the next phase of growth comes from,” Hsu told BeInCrypto.
Treasuries are easier to tokenize because the asset class is liquid, familiar, and easier for institutions to assess. More complex assets, including private credit, commodities, real estate, and tokenized equities, still face legal, operational, and distribution barriers.
TransFi: Stablecoins Show Where Tokenization Already Works
Raj Kamal, Founder and CEO of TransFi, said the report’s findings should be considered alongside stablecoins, which the report excludes from its core $60 billion RWA market figure.
Kamal argued that stablecoins remain the clearest example of tokenization solving real-world problems at scale.
Raj Kamal, Founder and CEO of TransFi
“In my view, the real RWA tokenization that is solving real world problems is stablecoins. Where there is a tokenization happening of a real world asset – the US dollar. Through USDC and USDT, billions of dollars of stablecoins are making remittances, B2B flows, payroll & freelancer payments, ecommerce checkouts, corporate treasury flows and forex flows and many other payments faster, easier, more predictable and cheaper.”
That argument does not erase the liquidity gap in tokenized securities and funds. But it shows that tokenization can work when the product solves a clear workflow problem.
Kamal said the next wave of adoption may come from payments and corporate use cases, where stablecoins already have strong demand.
“And the proof points come from an ever-increasing number of large traditional institutions looking to get into stablecoin issuance, Western Union, PayPal, Banks and others. And the reality is that we are just scratching the surface of the multi-trillion dollar traditional payments that is likely to move on to stablecoins. We should be celebrating this clear game changer in global payments as proof of RWAs working,” Kamal notes.
Brickken: The Market Is Still Building the Access Layer
Edwin Mata, CEO of Brickken, said the report’s numbers reflect a market still early in institutional adoption.
He said the first phase of tokenization focused on trust, regulatory readiness, and compliant infrastructure. The next phase will depend on whether tokenized assets become easier to access and use.
Edwin Mata, CEO of Brickken
“These numbers make sense and reflect the current state of the market, tokenization is still early in institutional adoption and that’s how it was supposed to be. The first phase was always about trust: proving the tech works, meeting regulatory bars, getting compliant infrastructure in place. In essence, that groundwork isn’t wasted time but rather the foundation on which everything else will be built.”
Mata compared the path ahead to stablecoins. In his view, tokenized assets will grow when they solve practical business problems, not simply because they exist on-chain.
He said the winners will be the platforms that make tokenized assets discoverable, interoperable, and usable in real workflows.
“Tokenized markets are heading the same direction, as regulation clarifies (Clarity Act or MiCA in Europe is a good example) and infrastructure matures, the winners will ultimately be whoever builds the access layer: discovery, interoperability layers, the infrastructure that turns a tokenized asset from a static record into something businesses and institutions can actually rely and build on.”
The Takeaway: Tokenization Has Value, But Not Yet Depth
The report does not show that tokenization is dead. It shows that the market is still early in its structure.
The assets exist. Major institutions are involved. Treasuries have reached production-grade maturity. But much of the market remains concentrated, restricted, or inactive on-chain.
That makes the next phase clear. Tokenization will not scale only by minting more assets. It needs better settlement, compliance, distribution, execution, and access.
The first phase proved that real value can be represented on-chain. The next phase will determine whether those assets can become active financial markets.
Read the full BeInCrypto Intelligence report here.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has renewed her call for a meme coin ban covering the president, members of Congress, and their spouses. The push responds to new filings showing Donald Trump earned $636 million from his TRUMP token in 2025.
The New York Democrat wants Congress to make it illegal for elected officials and their spouses to issue or sponsor digital assets. Her demand lands as her son’s crypto startup faces growing scrutiny in Washington.
Trump’s Windfall Revives the Memecoin Ban Fight
Trump’s 927-page disclosure, released Tuesday by the Office of Government Ethics, reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto income for 2025. The largest single item was $636 million from CIC Digital LLC, linked to the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin license.
The president has since defended his crypto fortune. Meanwhile, TRUMP trades near $1.80, down more than 97% from its $73.43 peak set days after its January 2025 launch.
TRUMP Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto
First Lady Melania Trump also issued a meme coin and reported $6 million from NFTs and digital collectibles.
Criticism of the president’s token activity has grown louder. Economist Peter Schiff this week called the tokens legal bribes, arguing that buyers pay for access to the president.
In the same tone, Gillibrand shared her renewed demand in an email shared with BeInCrypto.
“This is a commonsense requirement that should get broad bipartisan support – public officials and their spouses should not be issuing memecoins… The time to act is now — and that must include ethics reforms that prohibit members of Congress, the president, and their spouses from cashing in on their office.”
Gillibrand cosponsors the End Crypto Corruption Act, introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley in May 2025. The proposal would bar presidents, lawmakers, senior officials, and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets, including meme coins and stablecoins.
Son’s $300 Million Venture Tests Her Ethics Message
The senator faces questions of her own. Fortune reported in June that her son, Theodore Gillibrand, raised $30 million in a round led by Lux Capital.
scoop: sen. kirsten gillibrand's 22-year-old son theodore raised at a $300 million valuation to launch a perpetual futures exchange: https://t.co/qng9NBpbDC
— Ben Weiss (@bdanweiss) June 18, 2026
The 22-year-old’s startup, American Perpetuals Exchange Corp, carries a $300 million valuation. It plans to seek approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list perpetual futures on stocks and indexes.
Gillibrand, a longtime advocate of banning stock trading by lawmakers, says her son runs an independent business without her involvement.
However, critics argue the raise complicates her anti-self-dealing message while she negotiates crypto legislation.
“Gillibrand’s son graduated from undergrad on Sunday. By the following week it’s reported that he’s received $30 million in venture capital funding to launch a derivatives exchange. His mom sat on the Senate Agriculture committee, which has jurisdiction over derivatives, until this past year,” one user stated.
Crypto firms have spent $189 million on 2026 races, roughly 37% of corporate election spending, raising the stakes of the ethics debate.
With Republicans controlling both chambers, the coming weeks may reveal whether ethics language enters market structure negotiations.

Ordinals developers say their technology will survive BIP-110, a proposed rule change that aims to stop people from storing files on Bitcoin. The fight comes down to one question. Should Bitcoin (BTC) handle only money, or anything users pay for?
Inscriptions let people store images and text on the Bitcoin blockchain, similar to NFTs. BIP-110 would block most of that data for one year. Supporters call it spam, while critics say Bitcoin should stay open to everyone.
What Would BIP-110 Change for Bitcoin?
Every Bitcoin transaction can carry a little extra data, and inscriptions use that space to store pictures and messages forever. The proposal would shrink the allowed space to 256 bytes per piece, about one short paragraph of text.
That limit would break the storage method inscriptions use today. The rule would last for one year, then switch off automatically, and old coins would not be affected.
Its author, who writes under the pen name Dathon Ohm, credits Bitcoin Knots maintainer Luke Dashjr for the first draft.
Miners vote by adding a small flag to the blocks they mine. The plan needs 1,109 flagged blocks out of 2,016 in a two-week window. However, the public monitor counted just three flagged blocks as of June 30, under 1%.
BIP-110 miner signaling chart showing 0.73% support versus the 55% activation threshold, alt text “BIP-110 signaling status”, Source: bip110.org monitor
Support has never passed 1% since voting opened in December 2025. The best two-week stretch reached 0.79% in mid-June.
Here is the twist. The plan does not need a majority to activate. From around early August, computers running the BIP-110 software will reject blocks that do not carry the flag.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back has warned of fork risk, meaning Bitcoin could split into two competing versions. MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor called the plan a self-inflicted risk.
Dashjr, for his part, framed the stakes as existential on Thursday.
“If BIP110 fails, Bitcoin fails with it. I am not interested in any CBDC, much less an unregulated CBDC pretending to be decentralised,” he wrote.
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A CBDC is a government-issued digital currency. In his view, a Bitcoin that cannot reject spam loses what makes it different.
Ordinals Developers Say They Are Ready
On July 2, Ordinals developer lifofifoX published a fix that stores data in a new way. It cuts files into small, allowed pieces instead of using the method that BIP-110 bans. In short, inscriptions would keep working even if the rule passes.
Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor approved the fix the same day.
“Looks good to me! Let’s wait until BIP-110 activates to merge this,” Rodarmor wrote on GitHub.
The other side has already hit back, filing a counter-update to Bitcoin Knots, the software most BIP-110 supporters run. He argues the software simply does not notice the new format, letting it slip past the size checks.
The back-and-forth echoes an earlier inscription debate that also split the community.
Money sits at the center of the fight. In October 2024, Runes, a similar data-based format, drove a 32% fee increase that paid miners.
In contrast, supporters say the volunteers who run Bitcoin’s network computers must store all that data forever and get nothing for it.
The forced voting phase is about five weeks away. Back has already dismissed the August deadline as a path to a minority altcoin, a spinoff coin few would follow.
The coming weeks will show whether the miner’s silence means opposition or indifference.

A formal complaint has asked Parliament’s standards watchdog to examine whether Reform UK leader Nigel Farage breached lobbying rules. This comes after Farage received donations from billionaire Christopher Harborne, who reportedly holds a 12% stake in Tether’s USDT stablecoin.
Labour MP Phil Brickell filed the complaint on July 2. He asked Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg to review Farage’s private meeting with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in September 2025.
Nigel Farage is already under investigation over an undeclared £5 million "gift" from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.Now he's been reported to the Standards Commissioner over claims he lobbied the Bank of England on crypto policy that could benefit his…
— Joe Powell MP (@josephpowell) July 2, 2026
The Rule Behind the Farage Crypto Lobbying Complaint
Official UK parliamentary guidance prohibits MPs from approaching ministers or officials on behalf of recent benefactors.
“Paid lobbying is prohibited. An MP who has received a benefit such as hospitality, a gift or payment must not for 12 months after receipt engage in … any approach to a minister, other MP or public official which would provide (or seek to provide) a financial or material benefit for the person or organisation which provided them with that … payment.”
The restriction is younger than it looks. The British Parliament doubled the ban from 6 to 12 months in March 2023, after Owen Paterson resigned in 2021. The standards committee found he lobbied for two firms paying him more than £100,000 ($133,500) a year.
Brickell, chair of Parliament’s anti-corruption group, reported Farage to Commissioner Daniel Greenberg. This is according to a report by The Guardian,
“This is not simply a debate about cryptocurrency. It is about whether an MP who has received millions from one individual should be lobbying for policies that could increase the value and profitability of that donor’s investments.”
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How the Timeline Tests the Rule
Farage reportedly accepted a £5 million gift from Harborne before the July 2024 general election. Greenberg is already examining whether that gift should have been declared, according to the BBC.
Farage also received two £25,000 donations from Harborne in January 2025 and February 2026. Reform UK received a further £15 million from the same donor.
The January 2025 donation is central to the lobbying complaint. Around eight months later, in September 2025, Farage met Bailey privately.
During that meeting, Farage reportedly urged the Bank of England to scrap its digital pound plans.
Nine months later, the Bank dropped stablecoin holding caps in favor of a £40 billion ($53.4 billion) issuance ceiling. Industry voices had warned the £20,000 ($26,700) cap could make businesses unworkable.
Farage has since claimed credit for the softer approach, the Telegraph reported.
That meeting fell inside the 12-month restriction period following the January donation. Brickell’s complaint asks whether Farage’s approach to the Bank could have provided a financial or material benefit to Harborne, given his reported Tether stake.
Tether Market Cap Among Crypto’s Top Three. Source: Coingecko
A second Labour MP, Joe Powell, has asked Bailey for details of the meeting.
Nigel Farage is already under investigation over an undeclared £5 million "gift" from Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.Now he's been reported to the Standards Commissioner over claims he lobbied the Bank of England on crypto policy that could benefit his…
— Joe Powell MP (@josephpowell) July 2, 2026
Denials and No Findings Yet
Reform UK dismissed the claims entirely. Farage and Harborne maintain the gift was unconditional, and the Bank of England called the September meeting a routine engagement.
Greenberg is separately investigating whether Farage should have declared the £5 million gift, per the BBC. He has not yet said whether the lobbying complaint will trigger a formal inquiry. No wrongdoing has been established.
If a breach were found, sanctions range from an apology to suspension. Paterson faced a recommended 30 sitting-day suspension before quitting Parliament.
Farage’s own crypto exposure is growing. He made a £2 million Bitcoin (BTC) purchase in April. Meanwhile, the UK now bans crypto political donations outright.
Greenberg opening a formal inquiry could decide how firmly Parliament polices the 12-month rule in the crypto era.

Standard Chartered secured its MiCA license on June 29, joining 37 firms added to the latest register update from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Licensed crypto providers in the EU now total 280.
The batch is the first major licensing wave since MiCA’s transitional period closed on July 1. Grandfathered firms that missed the deadline can no longer serve EU clients under national rules.
[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER — Germany tops MiCA license register, ESMA CASP breakdown by country, Source: BeInCrypto]
First MiCA License Wave After the Transition Deadline
ESMA refreshes its interim register weekly. The latest update lists 280 authorized crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), 37 more than the previous file.
The timing explains the jump. MiCA’s Article 143 grandfathering clause let firms keep operating under national rules only until July 1, so this update captures the deadline scramble.
The new entrants also span both sides of finance. Crypto-native firms such as US prime broker FalconX and Sygnum Europe won CASP status, while Crédit Agricole’s CACEIS entered the register for e-money token issuers.
Germany Tops the MiCA License Register
Germany dominates the licensed field with 57 providers. France follows with 31 and the Netherlands with 26, while Malta and Cyprus each hold 20.
That ranking reflects Germany’s head start. BaFin licensed crypto custody firms years before MiCA applied, leaving the country with the deepest pool of authorized providers.
The MiCA transition period had already redrawn parts of the market before the register caught up. Most visibly, Tether’s EU delistings handed stablecoin ground to Circle.
Standard Chartered Swaps National Rules for an EU Passport
Standard Chartered announced both a MiCA authorization and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license through Standard Chartered Luxembourg S.A.
The bank opened that entity in 2025 to bring its digital asset custody business into the EU. Until now, however, it operated under the CSSF’s national virtual asset service provider regime, confined to Luxembourg.
Full MiCA status lifts that ceiling. The bank plans a phased rollout across the EU, with passporting subject to further approvals, extending custody launches already live in Asia and the Middle East.
“We are delighted to have obtained our MiCA and EMI licences, which enables us to progressively expand services to clients across Europe. This landmark authorisation reflects our strategic choice of Luxembourg…”
Laurent Marochini, CEO of Standard Chartered Luxembourg, said in the statement.
Luxembourg has meanwhile become a favored MiCA gateway. Coinbase houses its EU license there, and Ripple secured a preliminary MiCA CASP license in the Grand Duchy.
Web3 Users Question the Banking Embrace
The approval did not draw universal praise, however. One X user, posting as Lingersj, welcomed the bank’s Web3 build-out but called its treatment of crypto-earning customers contradictory.
“A few months ago they closed my account because most of my income comes from crypto business and said I’d need 3x more assets from traditional finance to keep it. With institutions moving towards web3, when can web3 users stop being treated like a risk category by default?”
The user shared the account closure claim in a post on X. BeInCrypto could not independently verify the account details.
The contrast leaves an open question for MiCA’s next phase. Banks now hold licenses to serve crypto businesses across Europe, yet their retail risk policies may decide whether that access reaches the industry’s own participants.

Samsung Electronics and several major Korean financial companies deny formal ties to Open USD, the dollar-pegged stablecoin that launched this week with a claimed alliance of more than 140 corporate partners.
The pushback, first reported by Chosun Biz on July 3, tests the credibility of one of the largest partner rosters ever assembled in the stablecoin sector.
Alleged Open USD stablecoin partner list Korean Partners Say They Never Signed On
Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD) on June 30, promising members fee-free minting and a share of reserve income. Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Coinbase headline the roster.
The list also names 13 Korean entities, including Samsung Electronics, Dunamu, Shinhan Financial Group, K Bank, and seven card issuers. Within days, at least four of them distanced themselves.
“There were no official consultations, and we do not even know what role we would play (in the consortium),” local media Chosun Biz reported, citing a Samsung Electronics official.
Meanwhile, Shinhan, Dunamu, and KBank said Open Standard had simply floated the idea of joining. They replied that they would review it, yet their names appeared as members.
An official at another listed firm described a similar experience to the outlet.
“We learned that we were included as members of the OUSD consortium through domestic news… We are perplexed to be included as members.”
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Open USD Faces Credibility Test Before Launch
The case echoes a costly precedent. Facebook’s Libra consortium debuted in 2019 with 28 founding members, including Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe. All three quit within four months, and the renamed Diem sold its assets in 2022.
How Libra Was Killed.I never shared this publicly before, but since @pmarca opened the floodgates on @joerogan’s pod, it feels appropriate to shed more light on this.As a reminder, Libra (then Diem) was an advanced, high-performance, payments-centric blockchain paired with a…
— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) November 30, 2024
The stakes are high because the debut dragged Circle stock down 17% on launch day. Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) control over 80% of a market worth some $311 billion, per DefiLlama data.
OUSD’s revenue sharing could also pressure USDC yields in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Some commitments look firm, however. Stripe Technology President Will Gaybrick confirmed OUSD will become the default stablecoin for businesses on its platform.
That pledge follows Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge, the stablecoin firm founded by Open Standard chief Zach Abrams.
Circle, for its part, continues to deepen its bank distribution, with Standard Chartered expanding institutional USDC access in Dubai.
Regarding the OUSD consortium logos, I also spoke to a few companies from the list as a number of them are clients of ours (OpenAssets) and they said they never signed or agreed to anything. Either the media deeply twisted something or the participant list is misleading. https://t.co/xhQa28snBJ
— Gabor Gurbacs (@gaborgurbacs) July 3, 2026
For the Korean firms, caution has context. The debate over stablecoins backed by the South Korean won remains unresolved at home, and listed companies already face tightening domestic crypto rules.
Open Standard has yet to address the Korean accounts or define what partnership means publicly. They have also not immediately responded to BeInCrypto’s request for comment.