Experts Say Open USD Could Do Something USDC Never Saw Coming
Open USD is not being viewed by market experts as just another dollar-backed stablecoin. The larger threat, they say, is that OUSD gives major payment firms, exchanges, custodians and asset managers a direct economic reason to distribute it. Open Standard, a consortium backed by more than 140 companies, has launched the Open USD stablecoin, or OUSD, with a model built around zero-fee minting and redemption, partner-led governance and shared reserve economics. The project is expected to go live later this year and has drawn support from names across traditional finance and crypto, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, BNY and Ripple. The structure is already being read as a challenge to the stablecoin market’s existing power centers, particularly Circle’s (USDC). The key difference is not only the roster of backers, but how the economics are arranged. Rather than allowing one issuer to retain most of the income generated from reserves, OUSD is designed to distribute most of those earnings to participating companies after a small management fee. That design could change how stablecoins compete. Alex Witt, general partner at Verda Ventures, said the project’s main advantage is distribution. In his view, OUSD is entering the market with a built-in network of companies that already move money, onboard users and serve institutional clients. “Distribution is king and value will accrue to built-in distribution networks,” Witt said in a note to Yellow.com. “OUSD can leverage the distribution of 140 partners, including Mastercard, Stripe, and Coinbase.” Witt argued that this puts pressure on Circle because USDC does not fully control all of its own distribution channels. He pointed to Circle’s reserve-sharing arrangements with large partners as evidence that the company already has to share economics to maintain reach. “Thus, we view that OUSD could dramatically erode Circle’s first-mover advantage,” Witt said. Shared Reserve Income Changes The Stablecoin Fight Bernardo Brites, CEO and co-founder of Trace Finance, described the launch as a structural shift in how stablecoin networks are built. He said OUSD brings together companies that often compete with each other across payments, custody, exchanges, asset management and banking. “The launch of Open USD is a real structural break from how stablecoins have competed,” Brites said. The mechanics, he argued, matter as much as the partner list. OUSD charges no minting or redemption fees at scale, allocates most reserve earnings to partner companies and uses a board structure without a single controlling issuer. That gives partners a direct reason to help grow the network. Brites said the reserve-sharing model turns what was traditionally an issuer’s private profit pool into a shared incentive system for distribution partners. That is the core challenge to Circle and Tether, whose business models have relied heavily on the economics of reserve income. Also Read: Can Fasset Turn Stablecoins Into Banking Rails For Emerging Markets? Markets appeared to notice that threat quickly. Circle shares fell after the OUSD announcement, as investors weighed the risk that a broad consortium could compete directly with USDC’s institutional adoption strategy. Brites said the overlap between OUSD’s backers and Circle’s existing ecosystem adds to the pressure. Some of the same institutions that have supported USDC infrastructure are now backing a rival stablecoin with a different economic model. For card networks, he said, the move also looks like a hedge. Visa and Mastercard do not need to own a stablecoin issuer outright to participate in reserve economics if they can gain exposure through a consortium model. Execution Risk Remains High Despite the strong launch roster, experts warned that OUSD still has to prove it can build actual liquidity. Brites said the project begins with no established market depth, no major trading pairs and a complex governance structure that will require coordination across a large number of stakeholders. The low-fee model could also limit how much capital OUSD can spend on incentives compared with incumbents that retain more economics. The existing stablecoin market is still dominated by Tether’s (USDT) and Circle’s USDC. That lead will not disappear quickly, even with a large consortium behind OUSD. Still, Brites said the scale of the partnership makes the project more significant than earlier consortium models. Bringing together card networks, processors, banks, exchanges and asset managers behind one stablecoin is unusual, and potentially important for enterprise adoption. “Distribution has always been the hardest problem in stablecoins, and OUSD is launching with more of it than any issuer before,” he said. Traditional Finance Moves Deeper Into Stablecoins Kyle Sonlin, president and co-founder of Global Settlement Network, said the OUSD announcement shows how far the digital asset industry has moved into mainstream finance. Rather than being driven only by crypto-native firms, the new stablecoin initiative includes legacy financial institutions, global payment companies and digital asset businesses. Sonlin said that mix reflects a broader shift in how large institutions now view stablecoins. “In my opinion, this announcement reflects how much the industry has matured over the past few years,” Sonlin said. He said trust, interoperability and seamless value movement across institutions will become increasingly important as businesses adopt tokenized payment rails at scale. Sonlin also pointed to the speed of the change. Discussions that once happened mainly at crypto conferences are now taking place inside major banks, payment firms and financial institutions. “That is a huge shift in a relatively short period of time,” he said. Open Standard’s launch comes as stablecoins are moving from crypto trading infrastructure toward broader payment and settlement use cases. The OUSD model attempts to solve one of the sector’s largest commercial questions: how to give the companies that distribute stablecoins a direct share of the economic upside. Read Next: Stablecoins Dominate Illicit Crypto Transactions, FATF Report Warns
Changpeng Zhao believes Bitcoin (BTC) could reach $1 million by 2033 as global ownership of the asset stays below 1%. Key Points Changpeng Zhao says Bitcoin reaching $1 million by 2033 is realistic given low global ownership. Bitcoin spot ETFs posted a ninth straight day of net outflows on Jun. 30, capping a record monthly withdrawal. Bitcoin trades near multi-month lows after breaking below a key long-term moving average. Zhao's Bitcoin Case Zhao, the Binance founder, told an interviewer this week that fewer than one percent of the world's population currently owns Bitcoin. He said that scarcity leaves substantial room for new demand as adoption widens across coming market cycles, particularly among institutions. He estimated Bitcoin could climb toward $600,000 if the next major cycle repeats an earlier fivefold gain. A further cycle, he said, would only need to double that figure to push the price past $1 million. Zhao called the milestone "totally possible," while acknowledging he could not pinpoint an exact timeline. Zhao framed the case as adoption-driven rather than a product of short-term speculation, echoing a similar bullish call he made in January. He told U.S. media then that Bitcoin could enter a "supercycle" this year that might break its historical four-year pattern. Also Read: OpenAI And Anthropic Want SpaceX-Sized IPOs, But Wall Street May Choke Institutional Caution Grows Zhao's bullish long-term outlook lands against a far more cautious institutional backdrop right now. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $222.6 million on Jun. 30 alone, a ninth consecutive session of net withdrawals. BlackRock's IBIT fund accounted for the bulk of that daily total. June's combined withdrawals reached $4.5 billion, the worst month for the funds since their January 2024 launch, topping the previous monthly record by roughly 29%. Total net assets held across the ETFs stood near $70.95 billion by month's end. Wincent's Paul Howard said the pressure reflects a broader macro rotation rather than a deterioration in Bitcoin's long-term fundamentals. Analysts also flagged heavy rotation into SpaceX's record initial public offering as a factor pulling fresh capital away from crypto markets this quarter. Cumulative inflows into Bitcoin ETFs since their debut, however, remain positive at more than $51 billion. Bitcoin's Rough June Bitcoin has fallen sharply over the past month, sliding from roughly $74,000 in early June to near $58,600 by month's end. The token is down about 20% over the past 30 days and roughly 45% over the past year, a stretch marked by heavy volatility. The decline pushed Bitcoin below its 200-week moving average for the first time since 2023, a threshold traders often watch as a marker of deep cycle lows. Support near $58,000 has held through the recent selloff, even as prices drifted further from earlier 2026 highs. A confirmed break below that zone could open the way toward $50,000, a level last tested in 2024. Read Next: Why Is ETH Still Weak While Ethereum Staking Hits Record Highs?
Are Iran Talks Turning Oil Into The Market’s Biggest Signal?
President Donald Trump said US-Iran talks in Qatar were making progress, sending oil lower and lifting market bets on a longer ceasefire. Key Points: Trump said Iran’s denuclearization was “moving along well” after meetings tied to talks in Qatar. WTI crude fell below $70 as traders priced in lower risk around the Strait of Hormuz. Polymarket odds put the chance of extending the 60-day negotiation period at 62%. Trump Iran Talks Trump said Wednesday that relations with Iran had improved and that recent meetings in Qatar had gone well. “The denuclearization of Iran is moving along well,” he told reporters, adding, “They’ve had very good meetings, and we’ll see.” The talks are centered on the next stage of a fragile diplomatic process after the US and Iran entered a 60-day window for negotiations. The discussions include efforts to preserve a ceasefire and address shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route. US representative Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff were in Qatar for meetings with regional officials, while Qatar and Pakistan acted as mediators. Iran and Oman had also formed a joint committee to discuss Hormuz and ceasefire issues. Also Read: OpenAI And Anthropic Want SpaceX-Sized IPOs, But Wall Street May Choke Polymarket Ceasefire Markets reacted quickly to the diplomatic signals. WTI crude dropped more than 2% and closed below $70, easing from levels reached during the latest US-Iran tensions. Gold also drew attention after adding more than $74 billion in market value in a single day. Crypto moved higher as altcoins led gains, though analysts warned that negotiations still carried headline risk. Polymarket priced the chance of extending the US-Iran 60-day negotiation period at 62%. That figure showed traders leaning toward a longer diplomatic process, but it did not make a deal certain. Trump’s “we’ll see” comment captured the market’s caution. If the Qatar talks produce a concrete agreement, the repricing could continue, but a failed round or expired deadline could quickly reverse the move. The Strait of Hormuz remains central to the talks because it is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Recent tensions around the waterway pushed oil risk higher, so any credible sign of de-escalation can move crude prices fast. Read Next: Why Is ETH Still Weak While Ethereum Staking Hits Record Highs?
OpenAI And Anthropic Want SpaceX-Sized IPOs, But Wall Street May Choke
OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing toward stock listings that could add roughly $200 billion to Wall Street, chasing SpaceX's record initial public offering. Key Points: SpaceX's June IPO raised $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, the largest public offering in U.S. history. Anthropic has confidentially filed for an IPO targeting about $30 billion at a $965 billion valuation, with OpenAI expected to follow above $1 trillion. Analysts say the combined $200 billion in new share supply could pressure AI stocks without triggering a market-wide crash. OpenAI, Anthropic Chase SpaceX SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in U.S. history in June, raising $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, edging out Saudi Aramco's 2019 debut by roughly $70 billion. Demand reportedly topped $250 billion, more than three times the shares on offer. Anthropic, the maker of Claude, has since confidentially filed for its own offering, targeting roughly $30 billion at a $965 billion valuation, following a $65 billion funding round that pushed annualized revenue near $47 billion. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks OpenAI is expected to follow at a valuation above $1 trillion, though it has weighed pushing its own listing into 2027 after SpaceX's volatile post-debut trading rattled bankers. Its shares briefly topped $225 before sliding back toward $150. Wall Street Weighs The Risk Financial strategist Ed Yardeni called the combined strain on available capital "manageable," noting the three offerings represent roughly 0.4 percent of investable equity markets against $8 trillion sitting in money-market funds. Commentator Mark Hulbert cited research showing every dollar pulled from equities can shrink total market value by five dollars, implying a trillion-dollar hit if all three companies list within a year, though he stopped short of forecasting a crash. Not everyone agrees the math holds up. Separate research on past IPO waves has linked heavy new-issue volume to softer stock returns over the following year, a pattern some analysts see repeating now. Both companies are structured to qualify for fast-track inclusion in major stock indexes once they list, a status SpaceX secured within roughly two weeks of its own debut under a rule change adopted this spring. That forces index funds to buy in fast, regardless of valuation. Fund managers funding new allocations typically sell existing holdings rather than raise fresh cash, and AI infrastructure stocks already absorbed some of that pressure in June. The Nasdaq slid more than four percent in a single session that month, its worst day in over a year, as investors trimmed chip and cloud stocks ahead of SpaceX's pricing. Crypto markets felt the same pull, and Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled as spot funds posted billions in monthly outflows. SpaceX shares have swung wildly since their mid-June debut, spiking above $225 before slipping back toward $150 as broader tech shares wobbled through the summer. That volatility is now the benchmark both rivals will study closely before setting their own terms. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
TAO Tests $196 While Bittensor Builds Institutional Crypto Rails
Bittensor TAO (TAO) is trading near $200 as institutional access grows, while its chart still points to short-term risk. Key Points: Bittensor has built custody, fund administration and staking access at a pace analysts compare with early crypto leaders. TAO remains below its 100-day simple moving average, with $196 as first support. A break below that zone could shift attention toward $180 and $150, despite stronger institutional infrastructure. TAO Infrastructure AI market commentator aixbt said Bittensor has built much of the infrastructure needed for institutional adoption in about two years. The comparison is notable because Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) needed roughly four to five years to reach a similar stage, according to the analyst. BitGo now offers segregated custody for TAO, while Coinbase Custody and BNY Mellon support custody and fund administration. Grayscale also moved quickly, filing an S-1 for its TAO trust six months after launch, compared with about 17 months for its Ethereum trust. Asset manager interest has widened as well. Bitwise filed for a TAO Strategy ETF in Apr. 2026, and FalconX, which has more than $1B in digital assets under custody, now supports subnet-level staking for Bittensor. About 67% of circulating TAO supply is locked in staking after the protocol halving cut emissions to about 3,600 TAO per day. That reduces tokens available for trading on exchanges. Also Read: MiCA Deadline Passes With Only 244 Crypto Firms Fully Licensed In Europe TAO Price The price signal is weaker than the adoption story. TAO recently traded near $202, about 73% below its late-2025 high near $600, and it remains below a falling 100-day simple moving average around $263.50. The daily chart still shows lower highs and lower lows, which means sellers have not lost control. The RSI stood near 34.50, close to oversold territory, though higher RSI lows alongside lower price lows suggest bullish divergence. The first level for buyers is $196, matching the prior daily low. If that area holds, TAO could attempt a move toward $220 before traders test the 100-day average near $263.50. A failed defense would leave $180 and $150 as the next downside areas. CoinCodex projected a one-month move to $150.85, which would align with a breakdown below $196 and another failed recovery attempt. TAO’s recent history explains why the market remains cautious. The token has fallen through 2026 after peaking near $600 in late 2025, and each rebound has stalled below the last major high. Read Next: Bitcoin’s Next Bull Run Has A Trillion-Dollar Problem
Anthropic Faces Backlash After Claude Code Secretly Flagged Users Linked To 147 Chinese Domains
Anthropic's Claude Code secretly embedded hidden markers to flag users linked to 147 Chinese domains and AI labs, developers disclosed this week. Key Points Claude Code encoded proxy and timezone details into invisible Unicode markers hidden in system prompts, developers found The mechanism checked configurations against 147 Chinese domains and eleven AI lab keywords before altering a date line in the prompt Anthropic said the code will be pulled in Claude Code's next release after developers and researchers raised alarm Hidden Prompt Markers A developer reverse engineering Claude Code version 2.1.196 while restoring a disabled remote control feature found obfuscated code silently present since April. The findings surfaced on Reddit on Jun. 30 under a screen name and were confirmed in a technical writeup posted on GitHub. Analysts examined three separate Claude Code releases and found the mechanism worked identically in each one, with no mention of it in any release notes despite months of updates. It only activates when a user points Claude Code at a custom server address instead of Anthropic's own. Once triggered, the tool reads the system's timezone and checks whether it matches two cities linked to mainland China. The proxy address is then compared against a hidden domain list of 147 entries, obfuscated to avoid turning up in a plain text search and including Baidu, Alibaba, Ant Group and ByteDance, plus eleven keywords tied to Chinese AI labs. Results get folded into the ordinary looking sentence "Today's date is...", where a hyphen switches to a slash for a Chinese timezone and a standard apostrophe swaps for one of three near identical characters. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks Developer Trust Fallout Developers reacted with alarm once the mechanism became public, arguing that a tool with access to source code and shell commands owes users a higher standard of disclosure than a chat window. A bug report filed against the project's code repository called the practice covert fingerprinting and asked what other signals might be hidden from users. Commenters noted the check could be defeated simply by changing a hostname or system clock. That means it mostly tags ordinary developers using legitimate corporate proxies rather than the sophisticated operators it was built to catch. Anthropic has previously accused Chinese labs including DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax of using more than 24,000 fraudulent accounts and over 16 million exchanges to copy Claude's reasoning and coding behavior earlier this year. An Anthropic engineer acknowledged the code on social media and said it would be pulled in the following day's release, though the company had not issued a formal written statement. The episode adds to a string of security questions around Claude Code this year. Researchers at Microsoft disclosed a prompt injection flaw in its GitHub integration in June, Check Point flagged three separate vulnerabilities in February, and Anthropic's own source code briefly leaked in April. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
TRON Hits Record Network Activity While 60% Of Traders Short TRX
TRON (TRX) set fresh network records, but bearish positioning on Binance kept traders cautious about a stronger TRX recovery. Key Points: TRON daily active accounts rose to 26.97 million, while transactions reached 385.77 million. Binance top traders still favored shorts, with 60.23% of positions bearish. TRX held support near $0.314, but weak technical signals kept recovery risk high. TRON Activity TRON’s latest on-chain data showed daily active accounts rising to 26.97 million, while daily transactions climbed to 385.77 million. The figures marked fresh all-time highs for both measures. The increase pointed to sustained use rather than a short-lived burst of activity. Higher throughput also suggested that decentralized applications and stablecoin transfers continued to draw users across the network. The move stood out because active accounts and transaction volume reached record levels together. That combination signaled broader ecosystem growth, not just a single pocket of demand. Market reaction remained limited despite the stronger blockchain data. Traders continued to treat TRX defensively, showing that network growth alone had not restored confidence in the token’s near-term recovery. Also Read: MiCA Deadline Passes With Only 244 Crypto Firms Fully Licensed In Europe TRX Pressure CoinGlass data showed Binance top traders still leaned bearish on TRX. The long-short ratio stood at 0.66, with 39.77% of positions long and 60.23% short. That split showed professional traders had not moved in line with TRON’s stronger on-chain metrics. Still, the ratio stayed above the month’s weakest readings, which suggested bearish conviction had eased from earlier sessions. TRX traded near support around $0.314, while immediate resistance sat close to $0.332. A stronger resistance level remained near $0.376, after price had rejected that area and moved back toward support. Technical indicators also favored caution. The Relative Strength Index fell to 38.70, below the neutral 50 level, while the Parabolic SAR printed dots above price and showed sellers still controlled short-term momentum. The main test is whether buyers can keep defending the lower support zone. If they do, TRX could make another attempt at $0.332, though a move toward higher resistance would likely require weaker short positioning. TRX’s recent pattern explains why traders remain cautious even as network use improves. The token rejected the higher resistance area, lost buying pressure and returned to support, leaving the recovery dependent on both price defense and sentiment. Read Next: Bitcoin’s Next Bull Run Has A Trillion-Dollar Problem
MiCA Deadline Passes With Only 244 Crypto Firms Fully Licensed In Europe
Europe's new crypto rulebook (MiCa) took full effect Wednesday, leaving just 244 of more than 3,000 previously registered firms authorized to keep serving European Union clients. Key Points Just 244 of the more than 3,000 firms once registered under national rules have secured authorization under Europe's new Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Binance enters the regime unlicensed after withdrawing its Greek application in June, though the exchange says it intends to reapply. Executives are split on what comes next, from market consolidation to unresolved questions over stablecoin oversight. MiCA Deadline Arrives The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCA, closed its final transition window this week, ending 18 months of overlapping national licensing rules across the European Union. Just a fraction of the roughly 3,000 firms that once operated under those old regimes have secured full authorization, according to the European Securities and Markets Authority's interim register. Germany led the continent with 57 approvals, followed by France and the Netherlands with 26 each, while Greece, Hungary and Poland had none. Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, entered the deadline without a license after withdrawing its Greek application in June. Founder Changpeng Zhao said the filing was fully compliant and near approval before unspecified political forces intervened, calling the outcome a loss for both Binance and Europe. The exchange says it plans to reapply in another member state. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks Executives React Kraken's head of policy for EMEA, Beata Sivak, said authorization means a regulator has reviewed how a firm is run and how it safeguards client assets, holding it to EU conduct rules. Coinbase, OKX and Crypto.com also secured licenses and remain free to operate across the bloc. Field Digital chief executive Joe Buttram predicted fragmentation as capital, users and trading activity shift toward compliant platforms. Not everyone views the shakeout the same way. Ari10 chief executive Mateusz Kara argued the bloc has favored Western nations, noting Poland has roughly 2,000 unlicensed crypto entities and only his firm holds a license. Parfin chief executive Marcos Viriato expects a wave of mergers as companies that missed the deadline for timing reasons rather than poor business practices look for buyers. Ripple, issuer of the RLUSD (rlusd) stablecoin, said the treatment of multi-jurisdictional stablecoin issuance remains unclear in practice, leaving some European businesses at a disadvantage relative to firms operating in other jurisdictions. The European Commission opened a review of the framework in May to determine whether amendments are needed. Users of unlicensed platforms are expected to migrate funds toward authorized exchanges or move assets into self-custody. MiCA has advanced in stages since entering into force in 2023, with stablecoin rules taking hold in mid-2024 and full licensing requirements for exchanges arriving that December. The rules replaced a patchwork of national regimes that had governed crypto firms differently across each of the bloc's 27 countries for years. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
Bitcoin’s Next Bull Run Has A Trillion-Dollar Problem
Bitcoin (BTC) may still deliver a parabolic rally, but CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju says the next move needs deeper institutional capital. Key Points: Ju said Bitcoin’s next major bull cycle likely requires trillions in net inflows. CryptoQuant data shows each new cycle has needed more capital to move prices. Treasury firms and ETFs have expanded access, but Bitcoin still trades below $60,000. Bitcoin Capital Ki Young Ju said Bitcoin can still see a seismic price surge, but only if institutional allocation grows enough to absorb trillions in new capital. The CryptoQuant founder made the argument in a post on X, where he said Bitcoin’s capital efficiency has weakened as the asset has matured. In earlier cycles, smaller inflows produced extreme gains. Ju said $2.7 billion in net inflows helped drive a 55,436% Bitcoin surge in 2011, while $68 billion supported a 10,000% rally from 2015 to 2017. The pattern has changed. From 2018 to 2021, about $364 billion in inflows coincided with a roughly 2,000% gain, while nearly $700 billion since 2022 has produced a 689% increase. Ju said Bitcoin must become a core macro asset and absorb more than $1 trillion in realized capitalization before a larger rally can take hold. “The next parabolic bull cycle will likely require trillions in net capital inflows, which means institutional adoption needs to truly take off,” Ju wrote on X. Also Read: USDC Gets MiCA Lift As Tether Retreats From EU Exchanges Institutional Bitcoin Institutional exposure has reached record levels, but the market has not responded as it did in earlier cycles. Bitcoin trades below $60,000, down 53% from its October 2025 record high of $126,198. In early June, a CryptoQuant analyst said the asset could bottom near $53,000 before attempting a recovery. Public companies now hold more than 1.2 million BTC, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data cited in the report. That represents more than 5% of the total supply. The buying has followed the Strategy model, with firms such as Metaplanet, Twenty One Capital and Strive adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have also pulled traditional investors into the market, with assets under management above $100 billion. The debate follows Bitcoin’s sharp reversal from late 2025, when the asset set its record high in October before sliding below $60,000. That drop explains why Ju’s capital argument matters now: institutions are present, but not yet large enough to overpower selling pressure. Read Next: Bitcoin ETFs Suffer Worst Month Since Launch With $4.5B Exit
USDC Gets MiCA Lift As Tether Retreats From EU Exchanges
Circle’s MiCA approval has turned Europe’s stablecoin deadline into a market opening as licensed exchanges remove Tether USDT (USDT). Key Points: Circle enters MiCA’s full phase with USDC and EURC cleared for regulated European venues. Tether did not seek the e-money-token authorization required under MiCA. The next test is whether EU trading volume moves from USDT to USDC in size. Circle USDC Circle entered Jul. 1 with a clear advantage as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation reached its final deadline and licensed exchanges began removing USDT from their platforms. The divide reflects two different regulatory bets. One issuer spent years preparing for MiCA, while the other decided Europe was not worth the compliance cost. Circle secured MiCA compliance for USD Coin (USDC) and EURC (EURC), making it the only issuer among the top 10 stablecoins by market value to clear that standard. Tether did not apply for the e-money-token authorization MiCA requires, leaving its roughly $185 billion USDT outside licensed European exchanges. Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, has argued that MiCA’s rule requiring 60% of e-money token reserves to sit in European bank deposits creates risk of its own. Rather than change its reserve structure for Europe, Tether has focused on markets outside the bloc. Also Read: SpaceX Could Reach $2.48 Trillion On AI Bet, Wedbush Says Stablecoin Market Circle’s timing also improved outside Europe. BNY, the Bank of New York Mellon, confirmed one day before the deadline that USDC became the first stablecoin on its Digital Asset Custody platform, where institutional clients can store, transfer, mint and burn the token. The broader MiCA transition shows how narrow the new market has become. About 1,200 virtual-asset firms held pre-MiCA national registrations across the EU, but only around 210 moved to full CASP authorization, a conversion rate near 17%. For Circle, the business question now matters more than the legal milestone. Regulated venues can no longer rely on USDT liquidity, and Circle is positioned to capture flows that need a compliant dollar stablecoin. Stablecoin liquidity in Europe had long depended on USDT because traders used it as the default bridge between crypto assets and dollars. The next few weeks will show whether that habit survives MiCA, or whether volume shifts toward USDC in regulated markets. Read Next: Anthropic's Fable 5 Model Clears Return After Weeks-Long Standoff
Bitcoin ETFs Suffer Worst Month Since Launch With $4.5B Exit
Bitcoin (BTC) spot ETFs posted $4.5 billion in net outflows in June, the worst month since the U.S. funds began trading in January 2024. Key Points: U.S.-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs lost $4.5 billion in June, breaking the prior monthly outflow record set in February 2025. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for nearly 79% of the withdrawals as Bitcoin fell 20.48% during the month. XRP and Hyperliquid ETFs still drew inflows, showing rotation inside crypto rather than a full exit from the sector. Bitcoin ETFs U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds suffered their heaviest month on record in June 2026, with net redemptions reaching $4.5 billion, according to the figures cited in the report. The total surpassed the previous monthly outflow record of $3.56 billion, which was set in February 2025 during another period of market stress. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, known as IBIT, drove most of the retreat. The fund lost $3.55 billion during June, close to 79% of all Bitcoin ETF redemptions for the month. That single-fund withdrawal nearly matched the prior categorywide monthly record by itself, underscoring how concentrated the pullback became among institutional Bitcoin products. The selling coincided with a sharp market decline. Bitcoin fell 20.48% in June, its steepest monthly drop since June 2022, when the asset lost 37.28% during that cycle’s broader collapse. Bitcoin also closed four of the first six months of 2026 in negative territory. June was the deepest decline of the year, making ETF flows a direct measure of how investors cut exposure as price pressure intensified. Also Read: OpenAI Fixes Codex After Developers Burn Through Weekly Limits In 2 Days Crypto Rotation The weakness spread beyond Bitcoin, but it did not hit every crypto ETF category with the same force. Ethereum (ETH) ETFs recorded $528.99 million in June outflows, according to SoSoValue data cited in the report. Solana (SOL) ETFs posted about $786,580 in net redemptions. The amount was small, but it marked Solana ETFs’ first monthly outflow since launch. Other funds moved in the opposite direction. XRP (XRP) ETFs drew $59.46 million in June inflows, while Hyperliquid (HYPE) ETFs led the group with $161.05 million in new money. The split suggests investors did not leave crypto ETFs altogether. Instead, some capital moved away from the largest incumbents and toward newer altcoin products, even as Bitcoin and Ethereum absorbed sustained redemptions. That rotation could remain fragile. If Bitcoin rebounds in July, flows may shift back toward the dominant ETF category, because Bitcoin still anchors institutional crypto allocation and often sets the risk tone for the wider market. The June numbers also fit a longer pattern in ETF trading. Bitcoin products can amplify market stress when price declines and redemptions arrive together, just as inflows can strengthen rallies when investors rebuild exposure after a drawdown. Read Next: Crypto Bear Markets End When 5 Forces Align, Fidelity Says
SpaceX Could Reach $2.48 Trillion On AI Bet, Wedbush Says
Wedbush initiated coverage of SpaceX with an Outperform rating and a $190 price target, calling the company more of an artificial intelligence infrastructure play than a space business. Key Points Wedbush rates SpaceX Outperform with a $190 target, about 11% above Tuesday's close of $170.86. Analyst Dan Ives says SpaceX's AI compute unit could turn it into a leading hyperscaler. Wedbush's sum-of-the-parts model implies roughly $2.48 trillion in enterprise value, led by Starlink. Wedbush Backs SpaceX Wedbush initiated the coverage on Tuesday, setting a $190 price target that implies roughly 11% upside from SpaceX's closing price of $170.86. The firm built its number on a sum-of-the-parts model that leans heavily on future AI compute demand rather than current launch or satellite revenue alone, using 2028 estimates to arrive at the figure. Dan Ives, Wedbush's Global Head of Tech Research, made the case on CNBC's Fast Money. He argued that SpaceX's AI compute business could eventually rank among the market's top long-term hyperscaler bets, even as the stock climbed more than 4% that session and extended its gains after hours. Ives conceded the stock looks expensive against current revenue. He said execution over the next two to three years could still make it one of the market's strongest AI plays, citing supply chain checks in Taiwan and Korea showing chip demand outstripping supply by roughly twelve to one. That optimism, he added, should eventually spread into software names tied to the broader AI buildout, with memory chips described as foundational to the trend. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks Starlink Anchors Valuation The debate over SpaceX's price tag runs wider than one analyst note. Evercore's Roger Altman has warned that traditional valuation models struggle with SpaceX and IPO-bound Anthropic because of their scale, AI exposure and uncertain long-term cash flows. Elon Musk responded publicly this week, saying short-term economic setbacks are inevitable but that AI and robotics would drive powerful long-term growth for the company. Starlink remains the real engine. Wedbush's sum-of-the-parts model yields roughly $2.48 trillion in implied enterprise value, with Starlink's subscriber base and expanding margins carrying much of that weight. Launch operations and the newer AI unit contribute far smaller slices of the total. The satellite broadband unit counts about 12 million subscribers and generates roughly $66 in average revenue per user, producing close to $19.3 billion in trailing revenue with a gross margin near 49%. That business alone could carry a large share of SpaceX's valuation even without the AI upside Wedbush is betting on. Shares have swung sharply since the company's Jun. 12 debut, testing key support levels before a recent bond sale stirred fresh concerns about a valuation bubble among some investors. SpaceX also priced new unsecured notes this year and drew a BBB-range credit rating from Fitch and S&P as it works to repay an earlier bridge loan. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
Anthropic's Fable 5 Model Clears Return After Weeks-Long Standoff
The Trump administration lifted export controls on Anthropic's two most advanced AI models Tuesday, clearing the way for global access to return this week. Key Points The Commerce Department withdrew restrictions on Claude Mythos 5 and Claude Fable 5 roughly two and a half weeks after imposing them. Anthropic said Fable 5 will roll out globally starting Wednesday with a new safeguard designed to block jailbreak attempts. The reversal follows warnings that the restrictions were giving Chinese AI developers extra time to close the gap. Commerce Department Reverses Restrictions Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Bureau of Industry and Security withdrew the controls it imposed on Jun. 12, ending a standoff that lasted just over two weeks. The agency's review of diversion risks tied to Mythos 5 and Fable 5 no longer justified a license requirement, he confirmed in a post on X. Anthropic will begin restoring global access to Fable 5 on Wednesday. Mythos 5 has already returned for select U.S. organizations that received approval on Jun. 26. The company called the resolution a relief after weeks of uncertainty. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks Officials And Experts React White House chief of staff Susie Wiles wrote on X that the government and industry had cooperated in an unusually close way over the past two weeks. OpenAI, Anthropic's closest rival, faced a similar request from officials last week, when it limited the rollout of its new GPT-5.6 models to trusted partners. Industry groups had criticized the original restrictions as overly broad. Tech executives and investors had grown concerned that the controls were handing Chinese open-source developers extra time to close the capability gap, since Beijing's models are advancing quickly and cost far less to run. The government's approach to regulating frontier AI before release remains unsettled, creating what analysts describe as an ad hoc environment for developers. The standoff began Jun. 12, when Commerce ordered Anthropic to cut off foreign nationals, including its own non-citizen employees, from the new models over national security concerns. Anthropic disabled both models for all users to ensure compliance, then negotiated with officials in Washington for over two weeks. A partial fix arrived Jun. 26, when Mythos 5 access returned for more than 100 approved U.S. organizations, before Tuesday's broader reversal cleared the way for Fable 5's return. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
Trump’s Meme Coin And DeFi Sales Delivered $1.2B In Crypto Income
President Donald Trump reported earning more than $1.2 billion from crypto ventures in 2025, disclosing over $50 million in Bitcoin (BTC) holdings in a Tuesday filing. Key Points: Trump's 2025 financial disclosure lists more than $1.2 billion in total crypto income, led by his TRUMP meme coin and World Liberty Financial token sales. The president holds over $50 million in Bitcoin and up to $25 million in Ether, according to the 900-plus page filing. The disclosure lands as Senate Democrats hold up the Clarity Act over ethics language tied to Trump's crypto business. Disclosure Reveals Crypto Windfall The U.S. Office of Government Ethics released Trump's annual disclosure Tuesday, and crypto payouts ranked among its largest line items. Covering the first year of his second term, the 927-page report detailed income from hotels, golf resorts and digital-asset ventures alike. Trump's TRUMP meme coin generated $635 million in royalties, tied almost entirely to a licensing deal with a group called Celebration Coins. The token launched on the Solana (SOL) network days before Trump returned to office in January 2025, and it briefly touched a multibillion-dollar market cap before fading. World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture co-founded by Trump family members, added another $588 million from token sales, the filing showed. Trump also disclosed holding between $5 million and $25 million in Ether (ETH), on top of his Bitcoin stake. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks Anna Kelly Defends Trump White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns tied to the filing. She argued the administration's crypto policies are meant to boost U.S. innovation, not personal gain, and called criticism of Trump's business ties a recycled political narrative. Ethics experts and watchdog groups see it differently. They contend a president whose wealth is tied to crypto has an incentive to favor policies that benefit his own ventures, a concern that has stalled the Clarity Act, a market-structure bill still awaiting a Senate floor vote. Senate Democrats say they won't back that bill without enforceable guardrails on officials' crypto holdings. Republicans counter that ethics limits should apply uniformly rather than target one administration. The TRUMP token's own trajectory captures the swings behind the disclosure. It rocketed to a multibillion-dollar valuation within hours of its January 2025 debut, then slid for months and now trades near $1.66, a market cap of roughly $394 million, about 98% below its all-time high. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit
Claude Sonnet 5 Challenges Opus 4.8, But Token Costs Complicate The Math
Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5, a new AI model it says brings Sonnet-level systems closer to Claude Opus 4.8 in agent work. Key Points: Anthropic says Claude Sonnet 5 improves reasoning, tool use, programming and knowledge work over Sonnet 4.6. The model has lower listed rates than Opus 4.8, but a tokenizer change can increase token counts. Early tests show stronger agent behavior, while some developers questioned the real cost of running it. Claude Sonnet Anthropic described Claude Sonnet 5 as its “most agentic Sonnet model to date,” saying it can plan, use browsers and terminals, and work with more autonomy than earlier Sonnet releases. The company said the model narrows the gap with Claude Opus 4.8 while keeping a lower listed price. Sonnet 5 is priced at $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens, compared with $5 and $25 for Opus 4.8. Anthropic is offering an introductory rate through Aug. 31, 2026, with input at $2 per million tokens and output at $10 per million tokens. Standard pricing resumes after that date. The company also said it increased rate limits for Chat, Cowork, Claude Code and the Claude platform because higher “effort level” modes can consume more tokens. Also Read: OpenAI Fixes Codex After Developers Burn Through Weekly Limits In 2 Days Anthropic Costs The price story is not simple. Anthropic said Sonnet 5 uses a new tokenizer, similar to the change introduced with Claude Opus 4.7, and the same input can map to about 1.0 to 1.35 times more tokens. That change helps explain why some developers questioned whether Sonnet 5 is cheaper in practice. Artificial Analysis estimated the model’s operating cost at $2.29 per task, about twice Sonnet 4.6 and about 15% above Opus 4.8. Anthropic’s safety review found lower hallucination and obsequious behavior rates than Sonnet 4.6. The company also said Sonnet 5 rejected malicious requests more effectively and resisted prompt injection attacks better in autonomous agent settings. The model still showed a higher rate of inappropriate behavior than Opus 4.8 and Claude Mythos Preview in Anthropic’s automated behavior audit. Anthropic said it did not specifically train Sonnet 5 for cybersecurity work and enabled network security guards by default. Sonnet models helped define the early market for AI agents, especially through Claude Sonnet 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7. More recent gains had shifted toward Opus-level systems, which makes Sonnet 5’s main role clear: bringing stronger agent behavior back into a smaller model class. Read Next: Crypto Bear Markets End When 5 Forces Align, Fidelity Says
OpenAI Fixes Codex After Developers Burn Through Weekly Limits In 2 Days
OpenAI said it fixed a Codex usage-limit problem after some users burned through coding credits faster than expected. Key Points: Codex users said normal coding work began exhausting weekly quotas within days. OpenAI said background features and helper agents sometimes ran too often. The company reset user caps, deployed fixes and added monitoring for similar regressions. Codex Limits Thibault Sottiaux, engineering lead for Codex, said late Monday on X that the coding agent had consumed more compute than intended because some background systems were doing extra work. Users complained over the weekend that similar tasks were draining limits faster than they had one week earlier, including on higher-priced plans. Sottiaux said OpenAI opened a Sunday “warroom” to review the reports and reset usage caps across the service. Codex usage limits show how much compute an AI coding task has used, with the dashboard displaying the figure as a percentage. More complex tasks consume credits faster, and available usage varies by subscription tier. Sottiaux said auto-review, which checks code without direct human action, and helper “subagents” sometimes ran more often than intended. In some cases, those systems ran twice or retried too aggressively after errors. The dashboard also showed activity that was not actually charged to users, he said. “All fixes are now deployed, and we've added more detailed monitoring so we can detect background-usage regressions sooner. We'll continue watching the results closely,” Sottiaux wrote. Also Read: Crypto Bear Markets End When 5 Forces Align, Fidelity Says AI Coding The issue mattered because coding is one of the most compute-heavy AI tasks, and flawed accounting can make a paid plan feel unreliable. A software engineer named Adam wrote Sunday on X that his $200 plan had previously taken a full week of heavy work to exhaust. He said the same plan burned through a week of usage in one day during each of the prior two days. Srinivas Pendela, a developer, remained unconvinced Tuesday, writing that he had stopped using Codex for several days because the depletion was “brutal.” The complaints landed in a market where OpenAI and Anthropic see coding agents as one of the clearest paid uses for AI. Codex had already faced an outage earlier this month, while Anthropic has had similar pressure around Claude. In March, Anthropic adjusted Claude usage caps during peak hours as demand strained compute capacity, a reminder that AI coding tools have moved away from unlimited use as adoption has grown. Read Next: Solana’s 4.51M Address Spike Raises One Question About Real Demand
Crypto Bear Markets End When 5 Forces Align, Fidelity Says
Fidelity Digital Assets says past crypto bear markets have tended to turn only after several structural catalysts begin working together, not after one bullish chart signal. Key Points: Fidelity reviewed recurring conditions that helped past crypto downturns shift into new market phases. The framework centers on halvings, custody, macro liquidity, regulation and product development. These signals can support recovery, but they do not provide a timetable for a market bottom. Bitcoin Catalysts Fidelity’s research frames bear market recoveries as a process shaped by supply, access, liquidity and investor confidence. The first catalyst is the four-year cycle around Bitcoin (BTC) halvings, which reduce new issuance and can change how investors read the asset’s supply profile. That does not mean prices rise immediately. Fidelity’s point is more limited, because lower issuance can make Bitcoin more sensitive to new demand once buyers return, especially when capital is looking for scarce assets. Another catalyst is institutional custody, a less visible part of the market that can decide whether large investors participate at all. Asset managers, pensions and other institutions need custody, reporting, insurance and operational controls before they can treat crypto as a serious allocation. As those systems mature, access improves. Also Read: OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Rewrite The Nvidia AI Hardware Story Fidelity Signals The third factor is the macro backdrop, since crypto still trades inside the global liquidity cycle even when its strongest supporters describe it as separate from traditional markets. When interest rates are high and cash pays attractive yields, speculative assets often struggle because investors have less reason to take volatility risk. That changes when liquidity improves. Regulation is another part of the framework, because clear rules can help investors act even when the rules remain strict. For institutions, uncertainty around custody, token classification, stablecoins, exchange activity or exchange-traded funds can be harder to manage than firm limits. Product development is the final catalyst, and it matters because crypto narratives need working infrastructure before capital can move at scale. ETFs, staking products, tokenized assets, payment rails, scaling upgrades and better wallets can turn interest into usable market access. Fidelity’s framework does not say the bottom is in. The stronger reading is that crypto winters often end structurally before they end emotionally, as infrastructure, rules and liquidity improve before broad confidence returns. That matters because traders who wait only for a green daily candle may miss the quieter conditions that helped earlier cycles recover after deep drawdowns. Read Next: Ripple Unveils 2 Standards To Bring Bank Lending Onto XRP Ledger
Solana’s 4.51M Address Spike Raises One Question About Real Demand
Solana (SOL) outpaced a weaker crypto market as tokenized equities and meme coin trading lifted network activity. Key Points: Solana gained about 7% over seven days while Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) fell. Active addresses rose to 4.51 million, the network’s highest level since February. Tokenized stock transfers and meme coin trading helped drive the latest activity spike. Solana Activity Solana traded near $73.54 after a seven-day gain of about 7%, while Bitcoin fell roughly 4.9% and Ethereum dropped about 6% over the same period. The move stood out because it came during a broader market pullback, with network data showing that active addresses on Solana climbed to 4.51 million, the strongest reading since February. Santiment said activity was tied to record growth in tokenized equities on Solana, rising discussion around xStocks since Jun. 26 and SOL’s recovery above key technical levels. The Kobeissi Letter said tokenized stock transfer volume on the platform crossed $10 billion last week for the first time, a milestone that gave traders another reason to treat Solana as more than a speculative chain. “The bigger story is that Solana is becoming a go-to chain for real trading activity,” Santiment said, adding that continued momentum would strengthen the case that SOL’s bounce has network support. Also Read: OpenAI’s Mark Chen Says AI That Runs Its Own Research Is Getting Close Solana Meme Coins Speculative trading added a second driver after crypto influencer Ansem said he would airdrop part of the creator fees earned through his Pump.fun profile. BeInCrypto reported that Black Bull (ANSEM) rose nearly 20,000% in the week after the announcement, while more than 67.3 million ANSEM tokens, worth about $9.4 million, went to over 700 wallets. The distribution was not evenly spread. Lookonchain said nearly 50 million tokens went to seven wallets, which later sold 38.3 million ANSEM for about $1.29 million. That event appeared to feed a wider surge in Solana meme coin trading, as DefiLlama data showed Solana decentralized exchange volume rising from $1.16 billion on Jun. 27 to $2.5 billion on Jun. 29. Pump led Solana decentralized exchanges with $510.9 million in trading volume over 24 hours and $4.22 billion over seven days, suggesting meme coins made up a large share of the network’s activity. The durability question remains unresolved. Tokenized stock volume has leaned on SpaceX, SanDisk and Micron exposure, while the meme coin jump came from one influencer event. Read Next: BingX Partners with Save the Children to Support Children at Risk in Western Balkans
OpenAI’s Jalapeño Chip Could Rewrite The Nvidia AI Hardware Story
OpenAI is moving toward Apple-style control of its AI stack as its custom chip plan tests Nvidia’s hardware dominance. Key Points: OpenAI and Broadcom have shared new details about Jalapeño, a custom inference processor built for AI workloads. The chip points to a broader strategy, not just an effort to reduce reliance on Nvidia. Major AI firms are building custom silicon as infrastructure becomes central to competition. OpenAI Chip OpenAI’s work with Broadcom on Jalapeño has drawn attention because Nvidia remains the main hardware supplier behind much of the AI boom. The processor is aimed at inference, the stage after a model is trained and begins responding to users. Training creates the model. Inference powers the daily prompts that define the user experience. That distinction matters because those interactions happen at enormous scale. Each improvement in speed, power use or networking can lower costs while making AI systems feel more responsive. The move also suggests OpenAI is borrowing from Apple’s playbook. Apple gained power over its products by designing key hardware and software together, instead of adapting systems around outside processors. OpenAI appears to be applying that logic to AI. A chip built around its own models could give the company more control over how ChatGPT and future systems perform. This is still early. OpenAI has not described broad deployment as imminent, and the chip should be seen as the start of a long infrastructure strategy. Also Read: OpenAI’s Mark Chen Says AI That Runs Its Own Research Is Getting Close Nvidia Pressure Nvidia has little reason to panic in the near term. Its processors still support much of today’s AI infrastructure, and demand remains strong across the sector. But OpenAI’s chip plan fits a wider pattern. Google has built Tensor Processing Units, Amazon developed Trainium and Inferentia, Microsoft has invested in AI chips, and Meta has pursued custom accelerators. The shared conclusion is clear. As AI becomes more important to these companies, none wants to rely entirely on another company’s hardware roadmap. Apple’s shift to its own processors did not destroy Intel overnight. It did, however, give Apple more control over pricing, performance and product direction as it replaced outside components. A similar shift could reshape AI infrastructure. OpenAI also said its own models helped speed parts of the engineering process during chip development, creating a feedback loop between AI software and future hardware. That loop may become more important as chip design grows more complex. The company that controls more of the underlying machine may gain advantages even when model rankings shift. The broader lesson from Apple is that integration can become a long-term moat. OpenAI’s Jalapeño plan suggests it wants control not only over models, but also over the systems that deliver them. Read Next: BingX Partners with Save the Children to Support Children at Risk in Western Balkans
Ripple Unveils 2 Standards To Bring Bank Lending Onto XRP Ledger
Ripple has proposed two new standards for a native XRP Ledger lending protocol that would let banks and institutions borrow against tokenized assets without ever selling them. Key Points: Ripple wants institutions to borrow against tokenized assets directly on the XRP Ledger. Credit and compliance stay off-chain while the ledger handles loan servicing and repayment. The XLS-65 and XLS-66 standards still need validator approval before they can go live. Ripple Maps Onchain Credit Ripple detailed the proposal in a Jun. 29 blog post, arguing that tokenization has already moved real-world assets like treasuries, money market funds, stablecoins, commodities, and private credit onchain while the financing of those holdings lagged well behind. The company says putting an asset on a ledger is only half the job, because real markets run on borrowing, collateral, and steady liquidity, not simple transfers between accounts. The rest, it argues, was missing. Ripple calls that gap the missing layer of onchain finance. The design keeps credit judgment and compliance with the institutions off-chain, while the ledger itself enforces origination, repayment schedules, interest accrual, and default handling through fixed, standardized rules written into the protocol. Access stays permissioned through verified credentials. The base network remains public, yet access to each credit facility is gated to approved, vetted, and credentialed participants only. Also Read: BitMine Defies The Selloff With A $43M Ethereum Bet, Strategy Blinks XRPL Lending Targets Institutions Two components frame the system, a Single Asset Vault that pools a single asset into shared liquidity and a lending layer that converts that pooled capital into loans with defined terms, servicing, and repayment logic. Ripple likened the split to traditional capital markets, where the custody of assets sits apart from the separate machinery that originates, services, and finances loans. A payments firm holding RLUSD (RLUSD) reserves could borrow against an incoming cross-border settlement for a day or two, rather than sell assets or tap a costlier bank credit line. Such a line might run 300 to 400 basis points. Comparable onchain lending markets already hold billions of dollars in deposits, and Ripple wants the XRP Ledger to compete for that institutional flow. Risk is isolated at each facility through first-loss capital, so junior money absorbs early losses before senior lenders take any hit on their position. One default would not spread to the others. The amendment entered validator voting earlier this year after the XRPL v3.1.0 release, and activation still requires more than 80% of validators backing it for two straight weeks before the feature can go live. The push builds on a May milestone, when Ondo Finance redeemed tokenized U.S. Treasuries across banks directly on the XRP Ledger network. XRP (XRP) traded near $1.05 this week, down roughly 8% over the past seven days. Read Next: CZ Says Binance Was Days From MiCA Approval Before Politics Hit