Cointelegraph

Stock and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood announced the launch of its public mainnet about four months after it began testing the network.
On Wednesday, the company said Robinhood Chain, a layer 2 (L2) blockchain built on Arbitrum, had officially launched after the network went live on testnet in February. The blockchain, which the company described as “AI-native and purpose-built for real-world assets,” comes amid Robinhood's expansion of crypto- and decentralized finance-related services.
According to Robinhood, it plans to launch crypto trading in the UK soon. The company also said that its tokenized stock products were live and available through its wallet app to users in more than 120 countries. CEO Vlad Tenev called tokenized stocks “inevitable” in January, arguing that offering the products could help prevent trading freezes that sometimes occur on traditional exchanges.
Source: Robinhood
The launch of the public mainnet came just a few weeks after Tenev announced that Robinhood would cut 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring move. The company is expected to announce its 2026 second-quarter results on July 29, but reported in April that its crypto transaction revenue dropped by almost 50% year-on-year, from $252 million to $134 million.
The company also introduced Robinhood Earn, a decentralized product that allows users to lend USDG, a dollar-backed stablecoin, through a self-custody wallet at an estimated 7% annual percentage yield. Robinhood shares rose about 8% on Wednesday.
Base’s L2 network reports back-to-back outages
Robinhood is entering an increasingly competitive L2 market dominated by networks such as Base, the Coinbase-backed blockchain.
In June, Base experienced two outages within hours of each other, which the engineering team later reported had been the result of a sequencer bug. The mainnet is the second-largest layer 2 network by total value secured at about $11 billion.
Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

Tradeweb, an institutional electronic trading platform, has executed an onchain transaction involving tokenized US Treasuries, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash over the Canton Network.
Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while the Canton Network synchronized settlement between the tokenized Treasury and tokenized cash. The companies said the trade settled in real time, but did not disclose its size.
A Tradeweb spokesperson told Cointelegraph the deal marked the industry's first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton. Participants included Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial.
According to the announcement, the transaction precedes the planned launch of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Tokenization Services later this year. DTCC said the service will allow participants to tokenize select stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and US Treasury securities while maintaining the same investor protections and ownership rights as traditional assets.
Related: Franklin Templeton launches dedicated crypto division after closing 250 Digital acquisition
The transaction is also the latest step in Franklin Templeton's expansion into tokenized financial assets. Earlier this year, the asset manager partnered with Binance to let institutions use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral while the assets remained in regulated custody, and with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized ETFs onto blockchain networks.
Governments expand tokenized bond initiatives
Governments have also been expanding efforts to bring sovereign debt onto blockchain infrastructure. Several jurisdictions have launched digital bond programs to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and market infrastructure.
Hong Kong was among the first jurisdictions to issue tokenized government bonds, launching its inaugural digital green bond in 2023. The government completed its third digital green bond issuance in November 2025, raising HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) across four currencies, which it said was the world's largest digital bond issuance at the time.
Last month, Hong Kong said it would build a digital asset platform through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, with plans to expand the infrastructure to other digital assets and connect it with tokenization platforms across the region.
Elsewhere, the UK government appointed HSBC Orion to support its Digital Gilt Instrument pilot, which is designed to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and secondary trading of government bonds.
Meanwhile, tokenized US Treasury products have grown into a $14.6 billion market, according to data from RWA.xyz. The sector spans 84 on-chain products and is the largest segment of the tokenized real-world asset market.
Tokenized US treasuries. Source: RWA.xyz
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

Bitcoin (BTC) traded as high as $60,200 on Wednesday, up about 2.7% over the past 24 hours after falling to a 21-month low of $57,737 earlier in the session. Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) also gained, up 3% and 4.85%, respectively.
The bounce took place amid deep investor caution, with sentiment trackers gauging the balance of fear and greed in crypto markets currently reading around 11 out of 100, in “Extreme Fear” territory. Despite the rebound from the yearly low, Bitcoin remains down roughly a third since the start of the year.
Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me
Bitcoin dip-buyers overshadowed by fear of future selling
Investors’ cautious stance shows up differently depending on what data is analyzed. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen more money leave than enter in recent weeks, including a reported $4.5 billion total outflow in June, the largest since the funds launched.
At the same time, onchain data shows that long-term holders added roughly 270,000 BTC over the past two weeks. That is generally read as a sign that some bigger investors see the recent decline as an opportunity rather than a reason to sell.
Looking at the past few days, one useful gauge is the funding rate. That figure has stayed positive for three straight days, meaning bets on rising prices have remained crowded even as Bitcoin fell to new lows. When leverage builds up on one side of the market like this while price is weak, it can add to volatility, since more traders become exposed to being forced out of their positions if the market moves further against them.
Bitcoin open interest, funding rate. Source: Hyblock
Liquidations continue to define the price action
A broader look at where leveraged positioning is concentrated, combining data from three major exchanges over the past week, shows the heaviest concentration of positioning is roughly between $57,000 and $60,500, which closely wraps around the range Bitcoin has traded in since late June. That concentration thins out noticeably above about $61,000 to $62,000, and again below about $55,000 to $56,000.
Bitcoin liquidation heatmap, 3-day look back. Source: Hyblock
In practical terms, most of the leverage that could be forced to unwind sits close to the current price rather than in a distant zone, so a decisive move beyond roughly $61,000 on the upside, or $56,000 on the downside, is where forced position closures would likely have the most room to accelerate a move.
The view for the next 24 hours leans neutral and a genuine shift in positioning would likely need to show up as rising leveraged positioning alongside a rising Bitcoin price, a combination that has not yet appeared in the data.

Manny Rutinel, a Democratic candidate running to represent Colorado’s 8th congressional district, has won his party’s primary and will head to the November election after being supported by a crypto-aligned political action committee (PAC).
Early on Wednesday, Rutinel reported that Rutinel would be the Democratic nominee for Colorado’s 8th district, having won with 61.7% of the vote against Shannon Bird’s 33.6%. Before the primary, the You Can Push Back Super PAC, backed by $3.5 million from Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, reportedly spent $1 million on media to support Rutinel’s run.
The Colorado Democrat has a “strongly supports crypto” rating from the Coinbase-affiliated Stand With Crypto organization, based on his answers to questions about stablecoins, market structure and regulatory clarity. Coinbase is also a major contributor to the Fairshake PAC, which supports what it considers “pro-crypto” Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress.
Source: Stand With Crypto
On Tuesday, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen reported that the cryptocurrency industry had spent about $189 million so far on contributions to influence the 2026 US elections, largely through PACs. In what some experts say is the industry repeating its 2024 strategy, crypto-aligned groups are expected to continue spending to elect what they consider “pro-crypto” politicians.
Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for You Can Push Back but did not receive an immediate response.
Poll shows Americans think crypto has too much influence in Washington, DC
A new poll commissioned by Americans for Financial Reform released on Wednesday showed that a majority of Americans are concerned about the influence the crypto industry has on US lawmakers. The results followed financial disclosures showing that US President Donald Trump profited by more than $1.4 billion from his crypto investments.
“Voters have seen serious crypto corruption and high ranking government officials raking in profits while everyday people experience crypto-fueled losses and scams,” said Mark Hays, the associate director of crypto and fintech at Americans for Financial Reform. “Voters want crypto to have to play by the same kinds of rules as other financial companies, not dictate special privileges for itself.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said on Tuesday that neither Trump nor his family “has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”
Among the poll’s results included a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents being concerned about crypto-related laws being influenced by donations from those in the industry. Americans for Financial Reform concluded that voters were likely to agree that the crypto industry needs sensible regulation.
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

Bitcoin (BTC) has delivered a key trend change setup in the latest sign that the macro downtrend could soon reverse.
Key points:
Bitcoin is seeing its first “perfected” TD9 indicator downtrend setup on monthly time frames since mid-2022.
While not a “buy signal” on its own, the move marks a key inflection phase in the bear market, analysis suggests.
RSI divergences continue to gain sway among those eyeing the final stages of the 2026 market downturn.
BTC price "perfected" TD9 setup echoes final bear-market stages
In an X post on Tuesday, analyst Tony Severino flagged a “perfected” buy signal on the TD9 indicator.
TD9 is a derivative of the Tom DeMark Sequential market timing indicator, which alerts traders to potential trend changes. Here, price triggers a notable signal when nine candles in a row close higher (in an uptrend) or lower (in a downtrend) than the closing price four candles prior.
“Bitcoin has ‘perfected’ a TD9 buy setup on the monthly,” Severino commented alongside data from TradingView.
BTC/USD one-month chart with TD9 indicator data. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The setup is Bitcoin’s first in several years on monthly time frames, with the last TD9 downtrend signal coming in July 2022.
At the time, BTC/USD spent another five months ironing out its bear-market bottom, and as Severino notes, a completed TD9 setup does not "necessarily mean that the bottom is in.”
“Not a buy signal by itself. But if it holds into the close, it’s the kind of thing you pay attention to,” Tony Carrera, host of the Proof of Pain podcast, wrote in a further X post.
“TD 9s are where you stop chasing fear, zoom out, and ask: Is this where $BTC reminds everyone what happens when they think it’s dead?”
RSI divergences spark "good odds" for Bitcoin's bullish comeback
As Cointelegraph reported, consensus among market participants still favors new macro lows coming before the bear market truly reverses.
Targets differ, with $55,000 now popular, while BTC price cycle comparisons put the current bear market at just over two-thirds complete.
By contrast, bullish divergences across multiple time frames are locking in on the relative strength index (RSI) — a classic hint that trend change is due.
“Not sure I have ever seen more confirmed and potential bullish divergence with oversold RSI on more time frames, ever,” trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker told X followers on Wednesday.
“Divs building over multiple time frames is my favorite signal. Good odds.”
BTC/USD one-day chart with four-hour, one-day, one-week RSI data. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Cryptocurrency ATMs are fast disappearing from the American landscape as kiosk operators in two US states face bans and restrictions as new laws go into effect.
Crypto ATM laws passed by Tennessee and Georgia went into effect on Wednesday, imposing a complete ban in the former and requiring transaction limits and reporting in the latter. The measures by the two states followed bans in Indiana, which went into effect in March, and Minnesota, set to enforce an ATM ban on Aug. 1.
The Tennessee law, signed by Governor Bill Lee in April, bans the use and installation of cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks, while the Georgia law requires that ATM operators cap money sent for new and existing users, issue warnings to customers and in some cases refund those who may have been the victim of fraud.
There were 185 crypto ATMs and kiosks operating in Tennessee before the statewide ban took effect on July 1. Source: CoinATMRadar
Many US state governments and municipalities have individually begun cracking down on crypto ATM operators in response to incidents of residents, particularly senior citizens, being conned into sending funds to scammers. Delaware and New Jersey lawmakers have proposed similar measures completely banning the machines.
The restrictions may have already contributed to at least one ATM operator going under. In May, Bitcoin Depot filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had disclosed just days before that it had “substantial doubts” about its future amid a challenging regulatory environment and lawsuits.
“Bitcoin Depot’s bankruptcy is likely a preview of what the broader crypto ATM industry will face in the US over the next several years,” Roshan Dharia, CEO of Echo Base and a restructuring adviser, told Cointelegraph following the Chapter 11 filing. “The traditional model depended on high transaction spreads and limited regulatory scrutiny to offset unusually high compliance, cash logistics, fraud remediation, and retail revenue sharing costs. That equation is breaking down as states increasingly impose consumer protection standards that compress fees, expand operator liability for scam related activity, and raise expectations around transaction monitoring and reimbursement.”
Canada weighs countrywide ATM ban
Although not in effect yet, federal policymakers in Canada proposed a total ban on crypto ATMs across the country. The proposed policy, which would still allow Canadians to buy digital assets from brick-and-mortar money services businesses, was in response to what officials called the ATMs being the “primary method for scammers to defraud victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime.”
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Anchorage Digital has integrated its off-exchange settlement platform with Binance, allowing institutional clients to trade on the exchange while keeping their crypto and cash in qualified custody at the federally chartered US crypto bank rather than depositing assets directly onto Binance.
Under the arrangement, institutions can use crypto assets or US dollar deposits held with Anchorage as collateral to meet Binance's margin requirements without first transferring those assets onto the exchange. The companies said the model separates custody from trade execution, allowing assets to remain with an independent custodian until settlement.
The service is initially available to select institutional clients and marks the first off-exchange settlement implementation for Anchorage Digital's Atlas platform, which the company said is designed to support institutional trading, settlement, lending and collateral management through custody-based infrastructure.
The collaboration addresses one of the biggest obstacles keeping institutional capital on the sidelines of crypto markets: exchange counterparty risk. By eliminating the traditional requirement to pre-fund trades, this could bring crypto trading closer to the custody-and-execution model long used in traditional financial markets.
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
Crypto exchanges expand off-exchange settlement offerings
Off-exchange settlement has gained traction among institutional crypto trading platforms in 2026.
In April, BitMEX partnered with Zodia Custody to let institutional clients trade derivatives while keeping collateral in segregated custody rather than on the exchange. Under the BitMEX integration, traders can access perpetual swaps and futures while collateral remained in Zodia's custody and was mirrored for trading.
BitMEX said the structure eliminated the need to prefund exchange accounts while improving capital efficiency and reducing operational risks associated with moving assets between custody and trading venues.
Source: BitMEX
Bitget adopted a similar model in June by integrating Fireblocks Off Exchange. The integration allows institutional clients to execute trades from MPC-based wallets while keeping assets in trader-controlled collateral vaults rather than transferring them onto the exchange. According to Bitget, the platform can verify that trading accounts are fully collateralized in real time without taking custody of client assets.
KuCoin Institutional also expanded its institutional custody offering earlier in the year, integrating Ceffu's MirrorX platform in January. The system allows institutional clients to trade while keeping digital assets in third-party custody, with funds mirrored for trading and settled offchain every four hours.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied to $60,000 at Wednesday’s Wall Street open as stocks moved higher and US dollar strength fell.
Key points:
Bitcoin catches an early tailwind at the start of July's first US trading session, rising with stocks.
US dollar strength cools as analysis sees an increasingly "crowded" USD long trade.
Bitcoin traders maintain faith that July will form a relief-bounce monthly candle.
BTC price eyes 3%+ daily gains
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking to $60,475 on Bitstamp, taking daily gains to nearly 3%.
BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The new monthly candle had started with a bump and a trip to new multiyear lows for the pair, and 24-hour crypto long liquidations totaled more than $200 million at the time of writing, per data from CoinGlass.
BTC/USD vs. cryptocurrency liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass
“$BTC showing a lovely pump this NY session,” trader Lennaert Snyder wrote in a response on X.
Snyder expected a low-time frame reversal to kick in, with an accompanying chart showing “exhaustion” to hit before price reached $60,700.
BTC/USDT one-hour chart. Source: Lennaert Snyder/X
Fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades saw a potential breakout on the cards should price attack either end of its low-time-frame range.
“Let’s see if this turns this $58K-$61K area into a range for the time being,” he told X followers on the day.
“I think there’s a good chance that the next attempt at the range high or low will cause a decisive break and bigger move.”
BTC/USDT perpetual contract one-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X
Bitcoin appeared to benefit from a drop in US dollar strength, with the US dollar index (DXY) reversing from local highs of 101.6 at the open.
US dollar index (DXY) one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Stock markets trended higher after some initial volatility, in part fueled by Meta stock, which added over 11% in the first hour.
Commenting on DXY, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter warned that a broader dollar trend change could come “soon.”
“The long US Dollar trade is crowded: Speculative long positioning in the US Dollar surged to +$34.3 billion as of June 23rd, the highest in 18 months,” it reported on X.
US dollar long position data. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
Bitcoin July relief rally becomes "base case"
Other market participants continued to call for a BTC price relief rally through July.
“Bitcoin Monthly close below its long-term trendline,” trader Titan noted alongside the one-month BTC/USD chart.
“My base case: a relief rally in July before the downtrend resumes.”
BTC/USD one-month chart. Source: Titan/X
Trader and analyst Rekt Capital reiterated his belief that July would offer the opposite of June’s downside before a return to bearish moves in August.
“Red June. Green July. Red August. This is what Bitcoin price history suggests,” he summarized on the day.
“Bitcoin could possibly see some downside wicking below the new Monthly Open in early July. But history suggests price should be able expand to the upside as the month progresses.”

An Ethereum founder and some of its biggest treasury holders are behind a new independent nonprofit launched to coordinate the blockchain's institutional outreach, underscoring the ecosystem’s push to attract more banks, asset managers and financial institutions as competition from rival blockchains intensifies.
The nonprofit, Ethereum Institutional, was introduced on Wednesday with backing from Ether (ETH) treasury companies BitMine Immersion Technologies and SharpLink, as well as blockchain co-founder Joe Lubin and other contributors. It plans to expand beyond New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore into additional financial hubs while offering education, standards development, industry research and institutional events.
In a social media post announcing the launch, Ethereum Institutional said the ecosystem has lacked “a credible, independent front door” for engaging financial institutions, arguing that such a role is needed to accelerate institutional adoption.
Source: Ethereum Institutional on X.com
The launch comes as Ethereum continues to dominate the markets for stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), even as rival blockchains step up efforts to attract institutional users. According to Token Terminal, Ethereum hosts nearly 58% of the tokenized RWA market. Data from DeFiLlama also shows the network accounts for roughly half of the $311 billion stablecoin market.
Although competition is intensifying, Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for stablecoins. Source: DeFiLlama
To be sure, the development also comes as Ether prices remain under pressure, weighing on the balance sheets of companies with large ETH treasuries. BitMine and SharpLink are both sitting on sizable unrealized losses, with the cryptocurrency’s price recently falling to a low near $1,500.
ETH was trading at more than $1,620 at last look on Wednesday, with a market cap of $195.4 billion, Coingecko data showed. It was trading above $4,000 as recently as Oct. 27.
Nevertheless, institutional adoption remains one of the crypto industry’s strongest trends. According to 21shares, current asset prices have yet to reflect growing demand from portfolio managers, asset managers and financial institutions.
Ethereum Foundation overhaul reshapes institutional strategy
The institutional push comes as the Ethereum Foundation undergoes a broad organizational overhaul. The nonprofit, which supports Ethereum’s core protocol development and ecosystem growth, has spent the past year navigating leadership changes, internal debates over governance and development priorities, growing competition from rival blockchains and criticism over Ether’s market performance.
Last month, co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down, one of roughly 19 reported departures from the foundation this year. The leadership shake-up was followed by a restructuring that included laying off 20% of the foundation’s workforce.
Amid the restructuring, the ecosystem has also seen the emergence of new independent organizations aimed at advancing Ethereum’s long-term development. In June, the same backers behind Ethereum Institutional launched Ethlabs, a nonprofit research organization focused on advancing Ethereum's scalability.
StanChart sees positives in news
Standard Charter's Geoff Kendrick said that today's announcement, paired with the earlier launch of Ethlabs, “have direct positive implications for both Ethereum layer 1, layer 2s and the Ethereum originated DeFi protocols.”
“Very importantly the anchor funders for both organizations are the three commercial giants in the Ethereum ecosystem,” StanChart's global head of digital assets research said in a Wednesday note to clients. “Their expertise will drive commercialisation of the Ethereum ecosystem at the time TradFi is entering at scale.”
Kendrick recently reaffirmed his ETH price forecasts of $4,000 for the end of 2026 and $40,000 for the end of 2030.

Hyun Song Shin, the governor of the Bank of Korea, praised tokenization for its ability to simplify the issuance and management of government bonds.
Shin said during a Wednesday panel discussion at the European Central Bank (ECB) Forum on Central Banking in Sintra, Portugal, that tokenized bonds would make it easier to verify collateral, credit the asset provider's account and reverse transactions at the appropriate time.
“The big prize is tokenizing government bonds,” Shin said, adding that it is “much easier, much less prone to mistakes if you have everything tokenized.”
US Treasury debt is the largest tokenized real-world asset category, representing $14.6 billion, or about 46% of the $31.7 billion RWA market, according to data provider RWA.xyz.
Shin also outlined plans to bring tokenized government bonds, wholesale central bank digital currencies and tokenized commercial bank deposits on a unified ledger, as part of an extension to "Project Hangang," a Bank of Korea-led pilot project testing a blockchain-based wholesale CBDC system.
Hyun Song Shin, governor of the Bank of Korea, speaks during a panel discussion at the ECB Forum on Central Banking. Source: YouTube
Tokenized government bonds may boost financial innovation: BIS
Government bond tokenization could improve market efficiency and support financial innovation, provided regulatory and infrastructure challenges are addressed, according to a July 2025 report by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Government securities play a crucial role in the financial system, acting as a savings vehicle for households and firms and as collateral in a range of transactions, the report said, adding:
“By enabling the contingent execution of actions, tokenisation can help to enhance the efficiency of markets, reduce settlement risk, broaden investment access and spur the creation of new financial services.”
The report examined 39 tokenized bonds, including 24 issued by corporations and 15 by governments. Compared with traditional, non-tokenized bonds, the BIS found “suggestive evidence” of lower bid-ask spreads and comparable issuance costs and yields.
Tokenized bonds vs conventional, non-tokenized bonds, liquidity, issuance costs. Source: BIS
Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire argued that USDC's decade-long network of integrations, liquidity and regulatory infrastructure gives it a structural advantage over new stablecoin entrants, while challenging key elements of Open USD's proposed business model.
In a Wednesday X post, Allaire described stablecoin networks as platform businesses driven by network effects, saying sustained investment in integrations, liquidity, regulatory approvals, banking relationships and reserve management creates competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate.
He also questioned whether permanently offering free, unlimited minting and redemption would remain sustainable at scale and said returning nearly all reserve income to partners risks “starving an infrastructure.”
The comments highlight intensifying competition among stablecoin issuers as new entrants seek to challenge USDC and USDT by offering businesses a greater share of reserve income and influence over governance.
Open Standard announced Open USD (OUSD) on Tuesday, with support from over 140 payments, banking, technology and crypto companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock and Google. The stablecoin is expected to go live later in 2026.
Circle’s stock performance in the last five days. Source: Yahoo Finance
Circle shares closed Tuesday at $62.63, down 17.55% from the previous session, before rising 2.44% to $64.18 in premarket trading as of 11 am UTC on Wednesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.
OUSD could challenge the Circle-Tether duopoly: Bernstein
In a research note, analysts at Bernstein said OUSD could become the “strongest and first new entrant to challenge the duopoly of Circle and Tether,” citing its reach across payments, banking, technology and commerce.
However, Bernstein said governance, operational architecture and the revenue-sharing formula remain open questions, as coordinating more than 140 partners will require substantial work. Bernstein said Circle spends close to $500 million on marketing, infrastructure, technology and compliance, highlighting the amount of resources needed to scale a stablecoin network.
Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, took a more skeptical view. In a post on X, Valente said that OUSD still faces the cold-start problem created by USDC and USDT's entrenched liquidity across the crypto ecosystem. He called the announcement a “giant” letter of intent and said that many participants also support competing stablecoins or operate their own infrastructure.
“The partners are backing rivals: Stripe owns Bridge and has its own stack, Coinbase is wedded to USDC, banks are building their own deposit tokens and the card networks support every token out there,” Valente wrote.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express

A slew of last-minute licenses were issued to cryptocurrency companies in Europe as Wednesday marked the end of the transitional period under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
Four companies were authorized in Italy this week, including asset management platform Hodlie, crypto exchange Young Platform, trading platform CryptoSmart and crypto service provider Hercle, bringing Italy's total to eight authorized crypto asset service providers (CASPs), according to a Tuesday announcement from the Bank of Italy. The central bank said the country's financial regulator, Consob, approved the licenses in coordination with it.
The French financial markets regulator, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), also added three new companies on Tuesday, including crypto investment platform Mereau Finance, blockchain infrastructure provider Iceblock and crypto service provider Aplo, bringing the total number of licensed CASPs to 31.
In Malta, digital asset prime broker FalconX announced Monday that it had received a MiCA license, while Venga announced on Wednesday that it had received CASP authorization from Spain.
The licenses were issued during the final stretch of MiCA's 18-month transitional period, which ended on Wednesday. By Friday, the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) interim register showed 244 authorized CASPs across the European Union and European Economic Area.
France's whitelist includes newly licensed CASPs. Source: AMF
Largest MiCA-authorized exchanges emerge as transition ends
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, remains unlicensed under MiCA. The exchange applied for authorization in Greece but later withdrew its application, saying it will seek authorization in another member state.
Greece is among the EU member states that have yet to issue a MiCA license.
On June 23, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said crypto service providers that remain unauthorized by the deadline must take “immediate” steps to wind down their EU activities.
With Binance remaining unlicensed under MiCA, the largest MiCA-authorized exchanges by spot orderbook liquidity include OKX, Coinbase, Bybit, Crypto.com, Gate and Bitstamp, according to DefiLlama data.
MiCA-regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in Europe. Source: DefiLlama
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Crédit Agricole, Europe's third-largest bank by assets, has launched the EURO eXchange Token (EURXT), a euro-backed stablecoin issued through its asset servicing arm, Crédit Agricole Caisse d'Epargne Investor Services (CACEIS).
CACEIS announced the launch on Wednesday, alongside the first subscription using EURXT into a tokenized Amundi Money Market Fund.
Issued on the Ethereum blockchain, EURXT is an electronic money token (EMT) pegged 1:1 to the euro. It is initially targeted at institutional investors and corporate clients as part of Crédit Agricole’s plan to accelerate its push into tokenized finance.
The launch adds to growing competition among traditional financial institutions exploring stablecoins and tokenization, as major banks move to bring blockchain-based settlement into mainstream financial markets. HSBC and BNP Paribas, Europe's top two banks by assets according to S&P Global, last September joined the Canton Foundation to accelerate tokenization of institutional real-world assets.
Reserves and supply structure
According to the project’s white paper, there is no hard cap on EURXT issuance, meaning the supply can expand based on demand through its smart contract system.
“As of the date of the white paper, there is no limit on the issuance of EURXT. The number of EURXT in circulation will depend on market demand,” the white paper reads.
Source: Stable-xt.io
According to data from the project’s website, there are 20.02 million EURXT tokens in circulation at launch, matched by roughly 20.02 million euros in reserves held by CACEIS Bank.
CACEIS secured MiCA license in France
The EURXT stablecoin launches in compliance with Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), the European Union’s crypto regulatory framework targeting crypto exchanges and issuers of digital assets.
The launch comes a year after CACEIS secured a MiCA crypto-asset service provider (CASP) license from French regulators in June 2025.
Source: Stable-xt.io
Cointelegraph was unable to locate the EMT approval on the register by the European Securities and Markets Authority, shown as last updated on June 26. CACEIS did not immediately reply to Cointelegraph's request to comment.
The launch of EURXT adds to a wave of fresh stablecoin launches both in Europe and globally as traditional finance and crypto-native companies compete to issue regulated digital dollars and euros.
In Europe, AllUnity has been expanding its MiCA-compliant stablecoin stack, while Quantoz Payments continues rolling out euro-denominated stablecoins.
In the US, more than 140 companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and Ripple, have joined the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin project, which lets participants mint the dollar-pegged token at no cost and keep all earnings from its reserves.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Cryptocurrency markets entered the third quarter of 2026 with less leverage but thinner liquidity after a wave of liquidations cleared speculative positions while major sources of demand weakened during the second quarter.
According to a market update from institutional data provider Talos, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) long liquidations totaled $8.35 billion in Q2. The data provider pointed out that the deleveraging coincided with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows, reduced Bitcoin buying by Strategy and a contraction in stablecoin supply.
While the reset left the market more stable heading into Q3, Talos said reduced order-book depth weakened its ability to absorb renewed selling pressure. This means the market could be less vulnerable to a chain reaction of forced selling, but prices may still swing sharply because there's less trading activity to absorb large orders.
Cross-asset performance chart. Source: Talos
Talos said the liquidation wave reduced the amount of leveraged money in the market. Bitcoin open interest, which measures the value of outstanding derivatives contracts, fell to $33.5 billion, down 32% from its Q2 peak, while Ether open interest dropped to $16.2 billion, a 40% decline, according to the data provider.
To be sure, the market became less liquid: Bitcoin’s 2% order-book depth, the value of buy and sell orders close to its market price, fell to between $35 and $40 million by late June from about $70 million in early May. Spot exchange volume also declined 28% quarter-over-quarter to $2.32 trillion, according to Talos.
ETF outflows and Strategy slowdown weigh on demand
Weakening demand was evident before the end of Q2. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $696.3 million in net outflows in a single day on June 25. In total, June recorded about $4.5 billion in outflows, pushing year-to-date totals to $5.5 billion.
Strategy also purchased roughly 3,600 BTC in June, down from about 25,000 BTC in May and more than 50,000 BTC in April, according to company disclosures. The company also recorded a net sale of 32 BTC earlier in June and ended the month with 847,363 Bitcoin in its treasury, purchased at an average price of $64,103 apiece. At last look on Wednesday, the biggest crypto was trading hands at $58.656.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express

US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) posted a record $4.5 billion in net outflows in June, more than three times the $1.25 billion Strategy is authorized to raise through its new Bitcoin monetization program.
The record monthly withdrawals pushed US spot Bitcoin ETFs to roughly $5.5 billion in year-to-date net outflows for 2026, reducing cumulative net inflows since the funds launched to about $51.2 billion, according to SoSoValue data updated on Wednesday.
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) accounted for about 79% of June's withdrawals, posting $3.55 billion in net outflows, according to Farside Investors.
Monthly flows in US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: SoSoValue
The figures highlight weakening demand for US spot Bitcoin ETFs, despite much of the market's attention remaining fixed on developments surrounding the industry's largest corporate Bitcoin treasury company.
Bitcoin ETF holdings fall below year-ago levels despite higher inflows
According to SoSoValue, cumulative net inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs have risen 4.6% from about $49 billion a year earlier. But CryptoQuant data shows the funds now hold less Bitcoin than they did at the same time last year.
“US-based Bitcoin ETF holdings are now lower than at this same day last year,” CryptoQuant’s head of research Julio Moreno wrote on X on Tuesday.
Source: Julio Moreno
Moreno said overall demand for Bitcoin continues to weaken, with total holdings across US spot Bitcoin ETFs falling below 1.25 million BTC.
ETF withdrawals dwarf Strategy’s Bitcoin plan
Strategy announced its Bitcoin monetization program on Monday as part of a broader capital framework designed to support dividend obligations tied to its preferred securities, a move widely viewed by investors as a response to growing funding pressure within the company’s structure.
Source: Jeff Dorman
The move drew mixed reactions across the community, with some viewing it as financial flexibility while others flagged concerns over the new capital structure's long-term sustainability and argued it could ultimately sell much more than $1.25 billion.
Strategy’s Class A common stock (MSTR) initially surged as much as 12% to above $90 following Monday’s announcement before reversing course and closing at $86.93 on Tuesday, down 6.2% on the day, according to Yahoo Finance.
Meanwhile, Strategy’s preferred stock (STRC) traded higher at $84.86 on Tuesday, according to Yahoo Finance.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Former Goliath Ventures CEO Christopher Alexander Delgado pleaded guilty to his role in a crypto investment scheme that prosecutors said raised at least $400 million from investors.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Goliath promised investors monthly returns generated through digital asset liquidity pools between January 2023 and January 2026.
Prosecutors said the funds were instead used to pay earlier investors, process withdrawals, fund luxury spending and finance business events.
Delgado pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as wire fraud and money laundering. Under the plea agreement, he admitted the scheme caused at least $250 million in investor losses and agreed to forfeit an extensive portfolio of luxury assets purchased with investor funds.
According to the DOJ, Delgado agreed to surrender eight properties, 11 vehicles, 30 watches, over 50 luxury bags and wallets, at least 29 pieces of jewelry and bank accounts and crypto wallets. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each fraud count and up to 10 years for money laundering.
Delgado's sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 8.
Excerpt of the plea agreement. Source: DOJ
Guilty plea follows Delgado’s public apology
The plea follows Delgado’s television appearance and public apology to investors. On May 12, Delgado appeared in an interview with Florida television station WFTV. At the time, he said investors had placed their trust in him and that he had failed them, saying he had voluntarily returned to the US and was cooperating with authorities.
Delgado said only about $160,000 remained in the company’s bank account at the time of his arrest and said that other former colleagues were involved in the operation.
The case also drew scrutiny of the financial institutions that processed Goliath funds. On March 12, investors filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase, alleging that the bank ignored suspicious transactions and allowed Goliath to collect investor funds through its accounts.
The lawsuit claimed that about $253 million passed through a JPMorgan account, including about $123 million later transferred to Goliath's wallets at Coinbase. A separate federal complaint also identified flows through Bank of America and directly to Coinbase wallets.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Taiwanese lawmakers on Tuesday passed a law to establish a regulatory framework for crypto, which includes licensing and rules for stablecoins.
The country’s financial watchdog, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said that the Legislative Yuan passed the law requiring all virtual asset service providers, or VASPs, to get approval from the regulator to operate.
The law also says stablecoins issued in the country must get approval from the central bank and the FSC, and issuers must maintain sufficient reserves with a trustee and undergo regular audits.
The law is the first to regulate crypto and stablecoins in Taiwan, bringing it in line with other nations in the region, such as Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, that have long passed laws to regulate the sector in a bid to attract the industry.
The FSC said the bill further strengthens the protection of traders’ rights and that issuing stablecoins will help Taiwan integrate with the international market and secure a place in the global crypto market.
Source: Cointelegraph
Taiwan’s rules outline seven types of VASPs, including exchanges, trading platforms, custodians and lenders, which will all be subject to rules for internal control and audits, cybersecurity systems, crypto listing and delisting rules, customer asset segregation and financial reporting.
The rules outlaw crypto-based fraud and price manipulation, with violators facing between three and 10 years in prison and fines ranging from about 10 million New Taiwan dollars ($300,000) to 200 million New Taiwan dollars ($6.3 million).
Those caught operating a VASP or issuing a stablecoin without a license face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to 100 million New Taiwan dollars ($3.1 million), Taiwan’s national news agency, CNA, reported on Tuesday.
The implementation date of the bill is still to be determined, and the law will take effect only after it is published by the government’s executive branch.
The FSC said VASPs that complete anti-money laundering registration before the bill is implemented, and institutions that provide related services under the agency, should apply for a license within 12 months after the bill is implemented.
CNA reported that lawmakers also passed a resolution asking the FSC to propose a plan within a year outlining how the crypto industry can provide derivative crypto commodity services, with the aim of providing diversified investments and improving the sector’s health.
Asia Express: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is set to restore public access to its most powerful AI models, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, weeks after they were pulled offline under a directive from the US government.
Anthropic’s two latest models have been restricted from public access since June 12, when the government applied export controls following a report in which researchers bypassed Fable 5’s safeguards, forcing Anthropic to pull all access to the models immediately. The government lifted those restrictions on Wednesday, stated Anthropic.
“After a series of productive conversations with the US government, we’re redeploying the model with a new set of classifiers to target and block more cybersecurity tasks,” Anthropic said.
The suspension of the models raised concerns about state control over frontier AI technology and set a dangerous precedent, according to experts and technologists. The export controls also highlighted White House concerns about a potential national cybersecurity threat if these powerful models were jailbroken and used for malicious purposes.
Getting best tech deployed remains priority
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on X on Wednesday, “Over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and approve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the US Government and to strengthen America’s leadership in AI.”
Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said on X that government priority remains to “get the best [AI] tech deployed as quickly and safely as possible.”
The restrictions came after the government became aware of a report in which Amazon researchers found a method of bypassing Fable 5’s safeguards, prompting the model to identify several software vulnerabilities.
In a blog post, Anthropic argued this wasn’t a risk unique to Fable 5, as weaker models could also identify the same vulnerabilities and produce the same exploit.
AI jailbreak classifications proposed
Anthropic has also begun drafting a consensus framework with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and other partners in its Project Glasswing — a collaboration announced in April to safeguard against AI cybersecurity threats — for “assessing the severity of AI jailbreaks.”
Anthropic’s cybersecurity safety classifiers and how jailbreaks interact with safety classifiers. Source: Anthropic
The company is also scaling up collaboration with the US government on AI model testing and safeguards. “This will include pre-release access to models and safeguards for evaluation, information sharing on jailbreaks and misuse, and dedicated resources for joint research,” it stated.
A well-known AI researcher claimed to have jailbroken Fable 5 within 48 hours of its launch in June, before the government restrictions, and shared screenshots showing how he bypassed the model’s safety guardrails.
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US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures generated more income for him in 2025 than real estate or resort businesses, according to his latest financial disclosures.
Donald Trump’s annual financial disclosure report was released by the US Office of Government Ethics on Tuesday, revealing more than $1.4 billion in income from crypto-related ventures last year.
The filings show Trump has profited substantially from an industry that he’s simultaneously regulating, which critics say creates a conflict of interest. In 2025, his administration pushed pro-crypto policy, a friendlier regulatory environment and executive orders favorable to digital assets, while his family’s ventures generated vast income as crypto markets surged to an all-time high.
In a statement to the media, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said Trump had “proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world."
"Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged - or will ever engage - in conflicts of interest," she added.
Memecoins and WLFI top earners
According to the 927-page disclosure, the licensing and sale of memecoins such as Trump Coin (TRUMP) generated the most income for Trump, with about $635 million coming from “royalties” in a “license agreement with Celebration Coins.”
Meanwhile, the Trump family’s DeFi platform, World Liberty Financial, was the second-biggest earner, generating about $588 million from “proceeds from token sales.”
The disclosure also revealed that Trump earned $197 million from selling equity in a stablecoin venture.
Trump’s memecoin income disclosures. Source: US OGE
This combined crypto income dwarfs the second category, real estate and resorts, with the president reporting more than $290 million in income related to revenue from his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, and various golf clubs and resorts he owns.
Public Citizen calls for action
The Trump Organization said in a statement that “the breadth and depth of this filing further underscores our ​commitment to transparency,” according to Reuters.
“At nearly 1,000 pages, it represents one of the most comprehensive financial disclosure reports ever submitted and demonstrates ​a level of financial ⁠transparency unmatched in presidential history.”
Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, called it an “obscene crypto grift” in a statement on Tuesday,
“Trump’s personal profit interest has now aligned him with the crypto industry, paving the way for dangerous legislation that will facilitate mass rip-offs and even threaten financial system stability,” said Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman as he called on Congress to take action.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Hollywood director Carl Rinsch has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for defrauding Netflix out of $11 million, which he spent on crypto, stocks and luxury goods.
A Manhattan federal court on Monday sentenced Rinsch, known for directing the 2013 film “47 Ronin,” starring Keanu Reeves, to 30 months in prison after he was convicted in December on charges including fraud and money laundering.
“Rinsch orchestrated a scheme to steal millions by seeking $11 million from a subscription streaming service, falsely claiming that money would be used to finance a television show that he was creating,” Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement Monday.
“Instead of using the money to make the show, Rinsch made risky bets on highly speculative stock options and cryptocurrency, and spent millions of dollars on luxury goods for himself,” Clayton added. “Today’s sentence sends a deterrent message: fraud will not be tolerated.”
Rinsch’s sentence was far below the maximum possible prison time of 90 years he was facing for his seven total charges, to which he pleaded not guilty. His defense also argued that he suffered from mental health issues.
The sentence brings to a close a 15-month saga after Rinsch was arrested in March 2025 for defrauding what prosecutors referred to in court documents as “Streaming Company-1,” which multiple reports have identified as Netflix.
Source: US Attorney SDNY
Rinsch makes $27 million on Dogecoin bet
According to a March 2025 indictment and a November 2023 New York Times report on a confidential arbitration proceeding between Netflix and Rinsch, the company initially gave Rinsch $44 million for his sci-fi show “White Horse,” later renamed “Conquest,” but he asked for more funds to finish the show, prompting Netflix to wire an additional $11 million in March 2020.
Rinsch used $10.5 million from the fresh funding to gamble on the stock market and quickly lost about half of it in a few weeks by trading options on pharmaceutical companies and the S&P 500.
Rinsch transferred more than $4 million in remaining funds to crypto exchange Kraken and went all in on the memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE), a bet that ultimately generated around $27 million when he liquidated in May 2021, according to an account statement seen by The Times.
Carl Rinsch giving an interview in 2013 for his feature directorial debut film 47 Ronin. Source: YouTube
With the DOGE winnings, Rinsch then spent about $10 million on personal expenses and luxury goods, including $1.8 million on credit card bills, $1 million on lawyers to sue Netflix, $3.8 million on furniture and antiques, $2.4 million on five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari, and $652,000 on watches and clothes, according to the indictment.
Rinsch never finished the show or returned the funds Netflix provided to complete it.
Prosecutors asked for five years
Rinsch was convicted of one count each of wire fraud and money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, along with five counts of making monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activity, each carrying a maximum of 10 years.
Prosecutors asked the court in a mid-June sentencing memo to give Rinsch five years in prison after he argued for a sentence without prison time.
Rinsch’s defense said he suffered from mental health issues, with friends and family members writing to the court to say that his behavior changed around the time of the offenses. Keanu Reeves also wrote to the court in support of Rinsch.
In addition to his two-and-a-half-year prison term, Rinsch was sentenced to three years of supervised release, $11 million in forfeiture and $700 in mandatory special assessments.
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