Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) is completing a “perfectly fractal” reversal pattern that a well-known analyst hopes could end the bear market.
Key points:
Bitcoin is on the final leg of what could become a major "W"-shaped reversal pattern.
John Bollinger suggests that its success could "break" the downtrend in place since October 2025.
Institutional interest slowly returns as newly reclaimed $60,000 holds.
John Bollinger hints BTC price "W" reversal could break bears
In X posts on Friday, John Bollinger, creator of the Bollinger Bands volatility indicator, eyed a “W”-shaped double bottom on BTC/USD.
“$BTC has seen a series of bullish patterns broken, evidence of the power of the downtrend,” he commented.
“Will this 'W' be the one that breaks the trend?”
“W”-shaped reversals involve two swing lows with a rejected rebound in between, with price ultimately breaking through that rejection level to form a new uptrend.
Bollinger uploaded a chart showing how neatly the current setup aligns with the lower band of the Bollinger Bands indicator on daily time frames.
“Note that it is perfectly fractal. The are small 'w's at the nadirs and a small 'm' at the apex,” he added, also pointing to a “W” on the weekly chart.
BTC/USD one-day chart with Bollinger Bands. Source: John Bollinger/X
Bollinger has been bullish on BTC for some time. In early May, he revealed a new long position via his Bitcoin investment vehicle.
As Cointelegraph reported, an increasing number of price indicators are flashing signals not seen since the last bear market in 2022. Despite this, market participants broadly believe that the next macro bottom is still to come and is due in Q3 or later.
Bitcoin ETF inflow comes amid major supply "absorption"
Continuing, analyst Axel Adler Jr., a contributor to onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, stressed the significance of re-emerging institutional buyer interest.
On Friday, the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw their first net inflows in ten days.
“Bitcoin is in the late stage of the bear cycle, but the ETF segment has for the first time signaled that the pressure is easing,” he summarized on X.
US spot Bitcoin ETF netflows. Source: Axel Adler Jr./X
Trader Daan Crypto Trades acknowledged that while the $220 million inflows were “not massive,” they could have implications for BTC price support going forward.
“Also good to note how price has been holding this ~$60K region regardless of the many outflows. That will become meaningful if price does bounce further into next week as it means a lot of absorption has taken place,” he told X followers.

Revolut, a crypto-friendly digital banking platform headquartered in the United Kingdom, notified some users it will delist Tether USDt (USDT) stablecoin in August, citing regulatory and risk concerns.
In a Friday customer notice seen by Cointelegraph, Revolut said users will no longer be able to buy USDT starting July 6, with full delisting scheduled for Aug. 31, 2026.
If users do not sell or withdraw their USDT by the end of August, Revolut will automatically convert any remaining USDT holdings into users’ base currency at the day’s exchange rate, the company said.
USDT deposits will no longer be supported after July 30, 2026, after which any incoming USDT transfers will be rejected, it said.
The move highlights how major fintech companies are adjusting stablecoin access in response to shifting regulatory frameworks. It also raises questions about timing, as exchanges such as Coinbase began delisting USDT in Europe in 2024 to align with EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) requirements.
Revolut does not cite exact framework for delisting
Revolut has not clarified whether the USDT delisting will apply globally or only in specific jurisdictions.
Addressing the reasons for delisting USDT, Revolut cited “regulatory and risk considerations” without expanding what regulations specifically have triggered the move.
Source: Cointelegraph
The company was granted a MiCA license as a crypto asset service provider (CASP) in November 2025, according to the official register by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The license was issued by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Cointelegraph approached Revolut for comment on the affected jurisdictions and the scope of its crypto offering but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Tether refused to comply with MiCA
Tether’s USDT has been gradually delisted by CASPs in Europe since late 2024 as the stablecoin’s issuer refused to comply with the EU’s MiCA regulation.
The company’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has repeatedly criticized perceived flaws in MiCA, including reserve requirements that apply to certain stablecoin issuers and require part of their reserves to be held with EU credit institutions.
Source: Cointelegraph
“I think it’s a very not well thought legislation,” Ardoino told Cointelegraph in an interview last year.
At the time of publication, USDT is the third-largest crypto asset by market capitalization after Bitcoin and Ether, with a market value of $184 billion. Its largest competitor, Circle’s USDC, has a $73 billion market cap and ranks as the fifth-largest crypto asset, according to CoinGecko.
Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Billionaire investor and longtime Bitcoin bull Tim Draper has denied moving his Bitcoin after blockchain analysts linked him to a large BTC transfer to Coinbase Prime.
“Haven’t touched my BTC,” Draper told Cointelegraph on Friday, adding that he still expects Bitcoin to reach $250,000 within one year.
The statement came after blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported Thursday that a wallet “possibly linked” to Draper had transferred 1,000 Bitcoin worth about $62 million to Coinbase Prime, citing data from Arkham.
The case highlights both the growing role of blockchain analytics in tracking large crypto transfers and the challenges of independently confirming wallet ownership.
Draper bought nearly 30,000 BTC in 2014
Draper is best known in the crypto community as one of Bitcoin’s earliest high-profile investors, having won a US Marshals Service auction for nearly 30,000 Bitcoin seized by US authorities from Silk Road-related holdings in 2014.
According to Forbes, Draper paid about $18.7 million, or roughly $632 per Bitcoin, for the holdings, now worth about $1.9 billion.
Arkham labels the wallet involved in the transfer as “Tim Draper?”, indicating a tentative attribution, but does not publicly explain the basis for the classification.
Source: Arkham
The wallet’s transaction history shows several interactions with Coinbase Prime over the past year, including a 1,000 Bitcoin transfer from Coinbase Prime on 9 July, 2025, when BTC traded around $115,880 per coin.
Cointelegraph reached out to Arkham for comment on its methodology and whether additional Draper-linked wallets exist, but had not received a response by publication.
Draper’s $250,000 Bitcoin forecast repeatedly missed timelines
Draper’s latest reiteration of his $250,000 Bitcoin target adds to a series of forecasts that have repeatedly missed earlier timelines.
The investor has held the same price target since at least 2018, initially expecting Bitcoin to reach the level by late 2022 or early 2023. However, Bitcoin’s highest recorded price to date is $126,080 on Oct. 6, 2025, according to CoinGecko. At publishing time, Bitcoin was trading around $62,530.
Source: Cointelegraph
Some Bitcoin bulls see further upside ahead, with Blockstream CEO Adam Back expecting Bitcoin could eventually reach between $500,000 and $1 million, arguing that the milestone may be “closer than people think.”
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has also said Bitcoin could climb as high as $700,000 if institutional adoption increases significantly, while Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff has repeatedly argued that the asset lacks intrinsic value and could ultimately fall to zero.
Polymarket’s “What price will Bitcoin hit in 2026?” prediction market shows traders pricing the most likely outcome around $65,000 to $70,000, with bets clustering near $68,000.
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

The Major County Sheriffs of America reportedly said it no longer opposes the CLARITY Act after initially raising concerns over how the bill would affect illicit finance investigations.
In a letter to US Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott and Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday, the MCSA said it shifted its stance on the CLARITY Act to “neutral” after some of its concerns in a May 14 letter regarding Section 604 in the bill were addressed.
Section 604 relates to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which seeks to protect developers from liability for illicit activity committed by users on their decentralized platforms.
The MCSA previously contended that Section 604 could create a loophole for criminals to exploit, making it tougher for law enforcement to investigate crypto-related crimes.
Source: Eleanor Terrett
While the CLARITY Act has bipartisan support, its passage through the Senate has largely been stalled by banking groups seeking to restrict stablecoin yield, which they argue functions like an unregulated deposit product that could drive trillions of dollars in outflows from the traditional banking system.
The bill has been awaiting a full Senate vote since May, when the Senate Banking Committee passed the bill mostly along party lines.
Senators in favor of the bill are pushing for a full Senate vote this month, in hopes that it can be passed and signed into law before the US midterm elections in November.
One of CLARITY Act’s “biggest roadblocks” removed
Crypto investor Mark Chadwick described MCSA’s initial opposition to the CLARITY Act as one of the “biggest roadblocks” in preventing the Senate from passing the bill.
“With that hurdle now out of the way, the path to passage just got a lot clearer,” Chadwick said. “One more major hurdle down.”
MCSA still wants improvements to CLARITY Act
The MCSA said it would like the CLARITY Act to be amended to include state law enforcement in Section 309, which requires the Treasury Department to study decentralized finance and illicit finance risks.
MCSA President Bob Gualtieri argued that Congress should provide the training, technology and resources needed to “investigate increasingly sophisticated digital asset-enabled activity” tied to fraud, narcotics trafficking, ransomware, child exploitation, terrorism financing and other crimes.
“State and local law enforcement agencies investigate these crimes every day and must have the tools, partnerships, and resources necessary to identify offenders, trace illicit proceeds, recover assets, and protect victims.”
Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?

Bitcoin’s realized profit and loss ratio has fallen to a 43-month low of -0.35, a figure that signals extreme market-wide loss conditions but has historically coincided with market bottoms, blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant said.
The Bitcoin realized P&L ratio — which measures the net percentage of Bitcoin (BTC) in profit or loss relative to total supply — hasn’t fallen this low since December 2022, shortly after FTX shockingly collapsed and sent Bitcoin below $16,000.
“Historically the indicator has marked BTC bottoms with extreme precision,” CryptoQuant said on Thursday. In 2015 and 2019 the Bitcoin realized P&L ratio also fell below -0.35 before price rallies followed.
Change in Bitcoin’s P/L ratio since 2012. The data was taken when Bitcoin was trading at $59,000. Source: CryptoQuant
The data could lift market sentiment, which has repeatedly fallen to near-record lows during the course of Bitcoin’s latest 50% drawdown from $126,080, set in October. Market sentiment has risen cautiously over the last 10 days, with Bitcoin up more than 7% since tanking to a near two-year low of $58,190 on June 25.
Many analysts blamed that drop on Strategy — the largest corporate Bitcoin holder — after its top perpetual preferred stock offering, Stretch (STRC), broke from its $100 par value to below $75, raising fears that its dividend model was unsustainable.
On Thursday, Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said the STRC incident squeezed out excess leverage and likely moved the market one step closer to a bottom.
“As the market continues to sort things out, I’m convinced the bottom is closer than ever — and that we will enter a new bull market in the fall.”
Don’t wait for the bottom, analyst says
Swan Bitcoin analyst Adam Livingston noted that Bitcoin is currently trading only 16% above the realized price — the network's aggregate on-chain cost basis — a level that has historically coincided with strong forward returns of 41% at six months and 81% at 12 months.
Livingston acknowledged that buying Bitcoin right now “feels awful,” but that’s precisely why it’s trading at a discount, he argued.
“Waiting for ‘the bottom’ is a wonderful plan with one flaw. The bottom never announces itself,” Livingston said, recommending investors buy now rather than overpay at the top.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Key takeaways:
Solana’s tokenized assets and memecoin revival drove SOL to a 30-day high at $83.
Bullish leveraged appetite cooled sharply, suggesting traders are hesitant to bet on further gains to $90.
Solana’s SOL token jumped to its highest mark in over 30 days on Friday at $83, marking a decoupling from the altcoin market. SOL’s rally gained steam from a surge in tokenized trading volume on Solana, inflows of stablecoin liquidity, and an unexpected comeback in memecoin activity. Can SOL reclaim the $90 level?
Total altcoin market capitalization, USD (left) vs. SOL/USD (right). Source: TradingView
SOL’s bullish momentum ignited on June 23, coinciding with cumulative tokenized stock transfers on Solana surpassing $10 billion. The launch of SpaceX shares trading by Backpack propelled Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) utilization. In contrast, the broader altcoin market extended its downtrend, hitting the lowest level since December 2023.
30-day tokenized assets net flows ex-stablecoins, USD. Source: RWA.xyz
Tokenized assets on the Solana network surged to a record-high $3.5 billion on Wednesday, up from $2.7 billion one month prior. The recent boost came from corporate credit tokens and stock market indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. According to RWA.xyz data, Solana leads with 294,274 active addresses in the tokenized industry, followed by Ethereum with 204,955.
Memecoins, prediction markets surge may push SOL toward $90
The airdrop of The Black Bull (ANSEM) memecoin on Sunday re-ignited interest in the sector. The token, launched on Pump.fun, reached a $60 million market capitalization on Tuesday. The anonymous developer directed some 65% of the supply to the crypto influencer Ansem’s public wallet. The distribution lacked transparency, but involved 74,000 addresses over the initial 3 days.
Top 7-day performances of Solana tokens. Source: CoinRanking
Multiple memecoins on Solana surged on the back of the memecoin airdrop, but the biggest winner was the Pump.fun platform token (PUMP). The 27% weekly gains were enough to send PUMP back into the top-100 crypto rankings, with a $630 million market capitalization. ANSEM memecoin extended its gains on Friday, reaching an all-time high market capitalization of $112 million.
The launch of World prediction markets integrated on Phantom wallet has created expectations for increased Solana activity. The project gathered nearly $890,000 in total value locked in two days and aims to compete with the extremely successful Polymarket amid the World Cup betting frenzy. Jupiter has also unveiled its prediction markets under beta test on June 29.
SOL perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas
The appetite for bullish leveraged positions has vastly declined since Wednesday, when SOL’s price crossed above $75 for the first time in 30 days. SOL futures annualized funding rate dropped to 3% on Friday from an 11% peak two days prior. Under neutral conditions, the indicator should range from 6% to 12% to offset the capital cost.
Investors are not comfortable betting on a SOL rally to $90 merely on the back of a temporary memecoin demand surge. Unless there is sustainable demand for blockchain activity, there are no apparent drivers for SOL to further widen its performance gap relative to the remaining altcoins.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the US lawmakers behind negotiations for a digital asset market structure bill in Congress, has proposed barring elected officials and the president from issuing or sponsoring their own tokens, citing President Donald Trump’s and First Lady Melania Trump’s memecoins.
In a Friday notice, Gillibrand said that Congress should support measures barring elected officials and their spouses from “issuing or sponsoring their own digital assets.” The New York lawmaker said that the proposed restriction would include any US president and their spouse, but did not specifically mention extending the provision to the office of the vice president or other members of their families.
“This is a commonsense requirement that should get broad bipartisan support – public officials and their spouses should not be issuing memecoins,” said Gillibrand. “We cannot let self-dealing destroy an opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance, and expand economic opportunity for the millions of Americans our financial system has left behind.”
Source: Kirsten Gillibrand
Gillibrand is one of the lawmakers behind negotiations regarding the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act in the Senate, legislation which has faced delays due to concerns about ethics, tokenization and stablecoin rewards. Although she expected the chamber to vote on the bill by the Senate’s August state work period, she added that no one would vote for the bill without addressing ethics, citing the potential of elected officials “[getting] rich off of these industries because of their insider status.”
During consideration of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) in 2025, the New York lawmaker said senators had removed provisions specifically targeting Trump’s ties to the crypto industry, including his memecoin Official Trump (TRUMP).
She said at the time that the memecoin was likely “illegal based on current law,” but addressing all of Trump’s ethics problems would make for a “very long and detailed bill.” Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025.
Notably, Gillibrand’s proposed memecoin restriction did not appear to extend to other family members. In addition to his personal investments in the crypto industry, Trump has faced criticism over his sons’ involvement in the crypto platform World Liberty Financial and their Bitcoin (BTC) mining company American Bitcoin.
Trump brushes off conflicts of interest concerns with crypto industry
This week, Trump reported that he earned about $1.4 billion from crypto ventures the same year he took office. The financial windfall occurred while he was in a position to influence legislation on digital assets, including the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act.
According to Trump, there was “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong” with profiting from his investments as president, while he did not directly answer questions about perceived conflicts of interest.
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities

US President Donald Trump has responded to criticism of his 2025 financial disclosures, showing that he earned $1.4 billion in income from crypto-related ventures while in office.
In a Thursday interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen, Trump said that there was “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong” with profiting from his crypto investments as president. He claimed that other people were responsible for his investments and he didn’t “even know who they are,” not directly answering questions about perceived conflicts of interest as president.
Donald Trump (left) and Joe Kernen (right). Source: CNBC
Trump’s comments followed the release of his 2025 financial disclosure report by the US Office of Government Ethics, showing that he took in more than $2 billion from his businesses and investments, about $1.4 billion of which was connected to crypto projects like his memecoin and family’s platform World Liberty Financial. Many advocacy organizations have characterized the investments as a “grift” allowing the president to influence related legislation like the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act.
Following his first term as US president, Trump called Bitcoin (BTC) a “scam.” However, in the lead-up to the 2024 election, he began cozying up to many high-profile figures in the crypto industry, including Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and executives at mining companies and exchanges. He has since launched his own memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), in addition to his family’s involvement in World Liberty and American Bitcoin.
Of the $1.4 billion tied to crypto, Trump disclosed that his memecoin generated about $636 million, World Liberty sales about $588 million and $197 million from equity in a stablecoin venture.
“Donald is once again pushing the envelope and nobody, nobody is putting the brakes on it,” Mary Trump, the president’s niece, said in a Friday interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “At the end of the day, because of his abuse of the presidential pardon power, a lot of people are likely to get away with a lot of financial crimes that have done real harm to people that have invested in Donald’s businesses because they believed in him and what he was selling.”
Crypto industry bets big on 2026 US elections
After digital asset companies spent a reported $170 million toward supporting whom they considered “pro-crypto” candidates to Congress in 2024, political action committees (PACs) and organizations appear to have adopted the same playbook for 2026.
According to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, companies and figures tied to the crypto industry had contributed $189 million toward this year’s election cycle as of June. The contributions made up the bulk of the $294 million from the crypto, AI, Big Tech and online betting companies spent so far to support or oppose politicians.
Trump’s term ends in January 2029, but all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 35 in the Senate are up for grabs in the 2026 races.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has warned that many prediction market contracts may already fall under existing restrictions on binary options, saying companies cannot avoid financial regulations simply by marketing them as "event contracts."
In a public statement on Friday, the regulator reminded companies that event contracts meeting the definition of financial instruments are already prohibited from being marketed, distributed or sold to retail investors under national measures implementing ESMA's 2018 binary options restrictions.
ESMA said the assessment depends on a contract's characteristics rather than how it is marketed, adding that event contracts with binary outcomes and fixed payouts are likely to qualify as financial instruments subject to the restrictions.
The regulator also told companies that offering qualifying event contracts to professional or institutional clients still requires authorization under the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, regardless of whether retail investors are excluded.
Excerpt from ESMA's July statement on event contracts. Source: ESMA
The statement does not introduce new restrictions. ESMA said it issued the reminder after observing increased offerings of event contracts and the rapid growth of prediction markets, noting that qualifying binary options have already been subject to national restrictions across the EU since 2018.
US prediction markets face growing legal battle
In the United States, a regulatory battle over prediction markets is unfolding, pitting state gaming regulators against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over whether event contracts should be treated as gambling or federally regulated derivatives.
By March, authorities in 11 states had taken legal or regulatory action against platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket. Nevada became the first state to temporarily block Kalshi's operations, while Arizona brought criminal charges alleging the company was operating an illegal gambling business.
The following month, the CFTC asserted "exclusive jurisdiction" over prediction markets, saying Congress had entrusted the agency with sole authority to regulate commodity derivatives markets, including event contracts. The regulator also said it had sued several states and filed court briefs supporting platforms, including Kalshi.
The CFTC's April announcement defending its authority over prediction markets. Source: CFTC.gov
The legal battle has continued to escalate. On June 30, a Massachusetts judge allowed state authorities to file an amended complaint against Kalshi in an ongoing lawsuit alleging that the company's sports-event contracts constitute illegal gambling under state law.
The dispute has also prompted calls for congressional action. Last month, the Indian Gaming Association and American Gaming Association, joined by tribal and labor groups, urged lawmakers to amend the CLARITY Act to explicitly prohibit sports-related event contracts on prediction market platforms, arguing they fall outside the CFTC's authority and should remain subject to state gambling laws.
Some legal experts believe the growing conflict between federal and state regulators over prediction markets could ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

For years, Michael Saylor’s Strategy built its brand around a simple mantra: Buy Bitcoin. Never sell. This week, that narrative changed.
The company authorized up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales under a new capital framework. At current prices, that equates to roughly 21,000 BTC that could eventually hit the market — a reminder that even Bitcoin’s most committed corporate holder isn’t immune to the realities of capital management.
This week’s Crypto Biz explores how the digital asset industry is entering a more pragmatic phase, where ideological purity is giving way to financial discipline. It also examines the intensifying stablecoin race as issuers compete for reserve yield, Fidelity's latest defense of Bitcoin's long-term security model and the crypto industry’s growing political influence ahead of the 2026 US midterm elections.
Strategy authorizes $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales to fund dividends, buybacks
Strategy has authorized up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales under a new capital framework that will fund shareholder dividends, bolster cash reserves and repurchase stock while preserving its long-term Bitcoin strategy.
The company’s new “Digital Credit Capital Framework” raises the annual dividend on its STRC preferred stock from 11.5% to 12%, establishes a formal Bitcoin monetization program and expands capital return initiatives through buybacks of preferred securities and MSTR shares. Strategy also said its dedicated cash reserve has grown to $2.55 billion, enough to cover roughly 17 months of preferred dividends and interest payments.
The framework reflects an evolution in Strategy’s capital allocation. After years of insisting it would never sell Bitcoin, the company has now established a formal monetization program and disclosed selling 32 BTC in June. Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases last week, leaving its holdings unchanged at 847,363 BTC as it places greater emphasis on liquidity management alongside its Bitcoin accumulation strategy.
Source: Michael Saylor
Payments giants back new stablecoin to challenge USDT, USDC
More than 140 financial and crypto companies have joined forces to launch a new US dollar-backed stablecoin that lets participants retain the yield generated by its reserves, marking one of the industry’s biggest coordinated stablecoin initiatives to date.
The Open USD (OUSD) project is backed by major payments companies, including Visa and Mastercard, alongside crypto companies such as Coinbase, Ripple, OKX and Bybit. Unlike traditional stablecoin models, OUSD will allow businesses to mint tokens without fees or volume limits while keeping the reserve earnings — a feature supporters say could help the token gain market share from incumbents Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC).
The launch comes as the US adopts a more favorable regulatory stance toward stablecoins following passage of the GENIUS Act. Open Standard plans to roll out OUSD later this year, entering a market already worth more than $300 billion that many analysts expect to expand rapidly over the rest of the decade.
Source: Open Standard
Fidelity says Bitcoin’s long-term security isn’t threatened by halving
Fidelity Digital Assets is pushing back against claims that Bitcoin’s long-term security will weaken as mining rewards decline, arguing that rising transaction fees, market incentives and Bitcoin’s price appreciation should continue to keep the network secure.
In a new research report, Fidelity said Bitcoin’s economic model extends beyond block subsidies, challenging the view that successive halving events will eventually undermine miners’ incentives. Research analyst Daniel Gray noted that although block rewards have steadily declined, average daily miner revenue has grown from $1.3 million between 2012-2016 to $40.2 million today.
The report comes as Bitcoin miners grapple with mounting financial pressure following the latest halving. Many publicly traded mining companies are expanding into AI and high-performance computing to diversify revenue streams, even as Fidelity maintains that the network’s long-term security model remains intact.
Source: Fidelity Digital Assets
Crypto industry pours $189 million into 2026 US elections
Crypto companies have contributed roughly $189 million to the 2026 US election cycle, accounting for an estimated 37% of all corporate political spending so far, according to a new report by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
The report found that crypto-backed political action committees (PACs) are once again driving much of the industry’s political influence. Fairshake has spent more than $82 million this cycle, while the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. Super PAC — heavily backed by Crypto.com — has spent more than $56 million. Public Citizen said the groups are following the same strategy used in 2024, backing candidates from both major parties who support the industry’s policy agenda.
Crypto’s political spending has already surpassed the roughly $170 million deployed during the 2024 election cycle, with more than four months remaining before November’s elections.
Source: Public Citizen
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Bitcoin (BTC) saw new July highs on Friday as bulls kept pushing over the US holiday period.
Key points:
Bitcoin sustains upside momentum as BTC price action nears its 200-week moving average.
That trend line now forms the centerpoint of a "strong resistance area."
Global equities hit record levels as Fed rate-hike odds simmer on weaker jobs data.
Bitcoin buyers "chasing" as BTC price eyes key trend line
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $62,295 on Bitstamp, its highest since June 24.
BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
US markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday, with the Dow Jones closing at record highs the day prior. As noted by trading resource The Kobeissi Letter, the global stock market cap also hit new all-time highs.
“Global equities are in the midst of one of the most powerful rallies in history,” it wrote in a post on X.
Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
Commenting on the latest BTC price action, X commentator Exitpump eyed “controlled slow buying” on exchanges.
“Looks good for continuation higher, although keeping in mind 62K - 62.5K as a strong resistance area,” they told X followers.
BTC/USD order-book data. Source: Exitpump/X
Trader Daan Crypto Trades focused on the 200-week simple moving average (SMA), currently at $62,652, for the weekly candle close.
“It is key for BTC now to hold this breakout and maintain its low timeframe bullish market structure,” he commented, calling the current trading zone “important.”
BTC/USDT perpetual contract one-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X
Fed rate-hike headwinds slowly cool
On the back of weak US nonfarm payrolls data, which helped fuel the crypto rebound, trading resource Mosaic Asset Company noted that expectations for Federal Reserve policy remained conservative.
“The knee-jerk reaction from investors was to push stock index futures higher, signaling a regime where bad economic news is good for stocks due to the impact on the rate outlook,” it wrote in its latest Mosaic Chart Alerts update.
Mosaic referred to interest-rate changes from the Fed, with potential hikes forming a headwind for crypto and risk assets.
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed roughly equal odds of a pause or hike at the Fed’s September meeting, with rates staying at current levels until then.
Fed target rate probabilities (screenshot). Source: CME Group
“The reality is that the payrolls report reflects a “Goldilocks” figure for the average stock, which isn’t too cold to stoke growth fears and not too hot to pull additional rate hikes forward,” it summarized about the jobs figures.

The European Union’s cryptocurrency industry has entered a new enforcement phase as the transition period under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation came to an end.
The end of the transition means crypto companies without MiCA authorization can no longer legally serve EU clients and are expected to wind down operations or face multimillion-euro fines and other enforcement action.
Industry executives and lawyers told Cointelegraph the next challenge is ensuring national regulators apply the bloc’s single rulebook consistently, even as supervisory approaches are expected to vary across member states.
The transition marks MiCA’s first major enforcement test as regulators begin applying the EU's crypto rulebook.
MiCA compliance costs versus fines
Although complying with MiCA can cost hundreds of thousands or, in some cases, millions of euros, experts say operating without authorization carries far greater financial and regulatory risks.
Nicola Massella, partner at Legal & Resilience, estimated MiCA implementation costs for many cryptocurrency companies at 350,000 euros ($400,000) to 600,000 euros ($690,000), while Brickken CEO Edwin Mata said costs can reach 2 million euros ($2.3 million) depending on a company’s size, services and compliance readiness.
On penalties, Eckehard Stolz, managing director of Amina EU, said MiCA penalties start at 5 million euros or 5% of annual turnover for some violations.
Source: EBA
Massella added that the European Banking Authority (EBA) proposed on June 26 increasing penalties under certain regulatory regimes, including as much as 12.5% of annual turnover for some stablecoin-related breaches.
Who enforces MiCA?
While MiCA creates a single EU rulebook, day-to-day supervision is handled by national competent authorities (NCAs), which authorize, supervise and enforce the rules for crypto companies.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) coordinates supervision across member states and maintains the public register of authorized crypto-asset service providers, and the EBA directly oversees significant stablecoin issuers.
Source: ESMA
“At the EU level, ESMA plays an important coordination and supervisory-convergence role, especially to avoid regulatory arbitrage between member states,” Ivo Grlica, founder of GrlicaLaw and G LAB Advisors, told Cointelegraph.
“National regulators are only the first line of MiCA enforcement, but the legal consequences can spread into national courts and criminal-law systems if the underlying conduct causes harm,” he added.
Enforcement unlikely to be uniform at first
MiCA enforcement is unlikely to be uniform in its early stages because NCAs differ in resources, experience and supervisory priorities.
“ESMA made clear it expects NCAs to act against unauthorized providers from July 1,” Stolz said, adding that how aggressively each regulator moves “will depend on local resourcing and priorities.”
Peter Bidewell, vice president of institutional product adoption at Parfin, said differing supervisory approaches could create opportunities for regulatory arbitrage despite MiCA's goal of harmonizing crypto rules across the EU.
Grlica said he expects enforcement to become more systematic over time as regulators identify unauthorized providers and share information across member states, making it increasingly difficult for companies with a history of non-compliance to obtain MiCA authorization later.
Several EU regulators, including authorities in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Italy, have issued notices reminding crypto companies that the MiCA transition period has ended and urging providers without authorization to wind down their operations.
The Czech National Bank told Cointelegraph that the country's Financial Market Digitization Act gives it the authority to impose sanctions for MiCA-related violations, including operating without authorization, unlawful token offerings and failing to cooperate with supervisors. The law allows the central bank to fine companies providing crypto services without authorization up to 118.5 million Czech koruna (about $5.6 million), 5% of annual turnover if higher, or twice the unlawful benefit obtained, whichever is greater.
Cointelegraph contacted France's Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the Netherlands’ Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to ask how they plan to enforce MiCA following the transition deadline. None had responded by publication.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

Belgian authorities arrested a 19-year-old suspected of being a key figure in a European phishing and money-laundering network that stole more than 500,000 euros ($572,000) using fake government emails and phone calls to trick victims into installing remote-access software.
Authorities detained the suspect in an Airbnb in Antwerp, where a second suspect was also found. The Federal Judicial Police launched the investigation in March 2026, when phishing attacks became a priority in the region, according to a Thursday police report.
The main suspect was brought before an investigating judge, who issued an arrest warrant. The gang used money mules and cash carriers and laundered the proceeds through cryptocurrencies.
The investigation shows that crypto can play multiple roles in phishing operations, including as a means of laundering illicit proceeds.
Phishing dominates crypto security losses
Phishing is also a major threat to cryptocurrency investors, accounting for the majority of the $482 million lost in the first quarter of 2026. Phishing and social engineering attacks accounted for $306 million of those losses, according to Hacken.
Phishing attacks and social engineering scams are a long-standing hurdle for the crypto industry, as attackers exploit human behavior rather than the code of a protocol.
On May 25, onchain analyst “b-block” warned that scammers used Google to deploy malicious phishing ads impersonating decentralized exchange Uniswap, reportedly stealing more than $400,000 from victims.
Data aggregator DeFiLlama said that “fake ads on Google are a common source of phishing attacks.” Crypto cybersecurity group Security Alliance also reported in April that there was a “significant uptick” in phishing activity on Google Search in March.
Blockchain security company CertiK’s Skynet report also highlighted phishing and social engineering as leading attack vectors for North Korea-linked malicious actors.
DPRK hacking playbook. Source: CertiK
CertiK attributed the 2022 Ronin Bridge exploit that stole $600 million to a spearphishing campaign involving a fake LinkedIn recruiter and a malware-laden PDF.
Magazine: Meet the onchain crypto detectives fighting crime better than the cops

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit said it is not participating in the issuance of Open USD, after its operator Dunamu was named among more than 140 businesses involved in the new stablecoin initiative.
“Upbit has only indicated our potential willingness to consider taking part in the future expansion of the OpenStandard ecosystem,” an Upbit spokesperson told Cointelegraph.
The clarification follows similar pushback from Samsung Electronics and other South Korean companies listed by Open Standard.
According to a Friday report by ChosunBiz, Samsung said it had not held formal discussions with the project and did not know what role it was expected to perform. Meanwhile, Shinhan Financial Group and KBank reportedly said they had only indicated that they would consider the initiative.
Cointelegraph reached out to Open Standard for comments but did not receive a response before publication.
Excerpt of the list of businesses listed by Open Standard. Source: Open Standard
Open Standard announced the dollar-backed stablecoin on Tuesday, saying more than 140 businesses had “signed up to use” it, including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, Samsung Electronics and Dunamu.
Open Standard previously said businesses would be able to mint and redeem OUSD without fees or volume limits. The project also plans to distribute earnings generated from its reserves to participating companies.
However, some industry participants, including Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, questioned the sustainability of offering free, unlimited minting and redemption. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, also previously called the announcement a “giant” letter of intent.
South Korea’s stablecoin rules remain unfinished
South Korea has yet to pass the Digital Asset Basic Act, leaving questions over who may issue stablecoins and what roles companies can perform.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, lawmakers have debated whether issuance should be limited to banks or opened to qualified non-bank issuers, while the broader regulatory framework remains under discussion.
The uncertainty also makes it difficult for South Korean companies to commit to stablecoin initiatives, as the rules governing issuance, reserve management and participation in stablecoin ecosystems have yet to be finalized.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the first update to its register of crypto companies under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) after the transitional period ended Wednesday.
Friday's update to the register added 37 licensed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including global banking group Standard Chartered, which secured MiCA authorization from Luxembourg regulators on June 25.
Among the new CASPs are digital asset prime brokerage FalconX, Sygnum Europe and Ronin EM, while the register of electronic money tokens (EMTs) has added Crédit Agricole’s CACEIS.
ESMA's interim MiCA register now lists 280 CASPs, up from 243 in the previous update published June 26.
Standard Chartered advances crypto strategy in Europe with MiCA and EMI licenses
In addition to securing MiCA authorization, Standard Chartered was also granted an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, allowing it to issue electronic money and provide payment services, the bank announced on Monday.
“Securing our MiCA and EMI licences is a key step in progressing our digital asset journey in Europe,” Standard Chartered’s global head of financing, Margaret Harwood-Jones, said.
The bank said the approvals build on recent milestones, including the launch of digital asset custody services in Asia and the Middle East, and support growing client demand for regulated access to digital assets in Europe.
Cyprus leads new MiCA authorizations
Cyprus led the latest wave of MiCA authorizations, accounting for six of the newly listed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), the highest share among EU jurisdictions.
France followed with five entries, alongside Italy and Malta, which also recorded five newly authorized CASPs. The Czech Republic and Spain added four CASPs each, while Luxembourg accounted for three listings and the Netherlands added two. Germany, Liechtenstein and Latvia each recorded one new entry.
37 newly approved CASPs in the MiCA register update on July 3, 2026. Source: ESMA
The approvals bring the total number of MiCA authorizations granted by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to 21, while Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) remains the EU authority with the most MiCA authorizations at 58.
The latest update included no changes to the register of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), which continued to show no approved issuers, or to the list of non-compliant entities, which remained at 162.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

Bitcoin (BTC) has added another bear-market bottom signal this month as analysis draws comparisons to November 2022.
Key points:
Bitcoin adds to its list of bear-market bottom signals with a key supply ratio "buy" trigger.
A bear-market floor could still be some time off, analysis says, with supply held at a loss still relatively low.
Demand is the missing piece of the puzzle to shore up a bullish rebound.
Bitcoin profit metric echoes 2022 bear-market bottom zone
In a blog post on Friday, crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr., a contributor to onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, confirmed the return of a key Bitcoin buy signal.
Advanced Net UTXO Supply Ratio, which measures the proportion of the BTC supply which last moved in profit or loss, is back in negative territory for the first time in nearly four years.
“The ratio dropped into deeply negative territory and then crossed back above the signal threshold on the rebound, which caused the model to print BUY on several sessions in late June and early July,” Adler wrote.
“This is the first buy trigger since November 2022, which was the bottom of the previous bear cycle.”
Bitcoin Advanced Net UTXO Supply Ratio. Source: CryptoQuant
UTXO Supply Ratio cues do not imply that a macro bottom has arrived, but occur “near cyclical lows.”
“Confirmation would be the ratio holding above zero together with rising price. The negative scenario is a move back into negative territory without price support,” Adler explained.
A missing piece of the puzzle involves supply being held at a loss, which has not yet reached the levels seen during previous bear markets.
Adler forecast that the 90-day simple moving average (SMA) of supply in loss should hit its bear-market reversal target within two months.
“Until then, it is more accurate to treat capitulation as a process rather than a completed fact,” he continued.
Bitcoin supply in loss. Source: CryptoQuant
Signals will not "stop BTC from going lower"
On the topic of UTXO Supply, fellow CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost also eyed a potential market inflection point this week.
“Since it depends on the profit and loss of UTXOs, it can very well signal something during either a sharp drop or a sharp rise. That said, in terms of cyclicality, it wouldn’t be inconsistent to think that the end of this bear market could be approaching,” he wrote in a Quicktake blog post on Wednesday.
“This won’t stop BTC from going lower, but we now have several signals pointing to seller exhaustion. The next step is a renewal of demand, and that could take some time.”
As Cointelegraph reported, BTC price expectations tend to favor a bear-market bottom coming in Q3 or later.

Shielded Labs has raised the possibility of delaying Zcash's Ironwood network upgrade, warning that ecosystem participants like exchanges, mining pools and wallets may not have enough time to prepare their systems for the planned activation in late July.
Jason McGee, executive director of Shielded Labs, said in a Zcash community forum post that two major projects are moving forward at the same time. Alongside Ironwood, infrastructure providers are being asked to replace Zcash’s longstanding node and wallet software, zcashd, with a new collection of tools known as the Z3 stack.
The concerns highlight the trade-off between quickly restoring confidence in Zcash’s shielded supply and giving ecosystem participants enough time to deploy and audit the new infrastructure safely.
Ironwood was proposed after researchers discovered an “infinity” bug in Orchard, Zcash’s main private transaction pool. The flaw could theoretically have allowed an attacker to create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC tokens inside the pool without detection. Developers said there was no evidence that the pool had been exploited. However, Orchard's privacy features make it impossible to prove that no fake coins were created.
Source: Zooko Wilcox
Ironwood rollout collides with Zcash software migration
Ironwood would open a replacement private pool and prevent new activity inside the existing Orchard pool. Funds leaving Orchard would have to pass through an accounting checkpoint that prevents more ZEC from exiting than what originally entered. This would allow users to verify that the circulating supply remains within Zcash’s intended limits.
At the same time, Zcash is retiring zcashd, the software used by many ecosystem participants to connect to the network and process transactions. Its replacement stack includes Zebra for operating a network node, Zaino for supplying blockchain data to applications and Zallet for wallet functions.
The network's official guidance documents said operators may need to modify their systems as some zcashd functions will not have direct replacements.
McGee said Zallet and Zaino were still under development and not ready for production use. Feedback gathered from infrastructure providers suggested that some expect to be ready by late July, while others need more time, he added.
McGee said no delay has been finalized.
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox said security reviews had found no additional serious bugs so far and that developers are also working to verify the new system before Ironwood activates.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

A pseudonymous defendant has moved to dismiss a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses, arguing that Bitcoin addresses are merely data strings that cannot be sued.
The defendant, identifying themselves as “John Doe 33,” filed a notice of appearance and motion to dismiss on Thursday, claiming they control one of the dormant wallets named in the lawsuit.
According to the motion, the lawsuit is legally defective because Bitcoin address strings are neither persons nor legal entities subject to the court's jurisdiction. The filing argues that a public Bitcoin address cannot itself be “found” under New York's lost-property law because it has always been publicly visible on the blockchain.
The filing challenges the lawsuit filed in May by plaintiff “Noah Doe” and two Wyoming-based LLCs, ABC Company and XYZ Company. The plaintiffs claim the Bitcoin tied to the listed addresses constitutes abandoned property that they reported to the New York Police Department and claimed under New York lost-property law.
Regardless of how the court rules on ownership, it remains unclear how the plaintiffs could recover any Bitcoin without possessing the private keys needed to access the wallets.
Defendant files a motion to dismiss the case seeking ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin wallets. Source: iapps.court.state.ny.us
The complaint lists 39,069 Bitcoin addresses, including wallet addresses widely associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hacker. The listed wallets collectively hold an estimated 3.7 million BTC (worth about $234 billion), according to Sani, founder of Bitcoin analytics platform Timechain Index.
Defendant appears to control $300 million Bitcoin wallet
Blockchain data suggests that “John Doe 33” controls a wallet holding 5,000 BTC received in April 2014 that has remained untouched for more than 12 years, making it worth more than $300 million at current prices, according to a Friday X post from Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn.
“That's ~100x the median defendant address. This is a real holder with real standing choosing to fight, not a bystander.”
Source: Alex Thorn
Thorn added that the filing prevented what had been a “near-certain” default judgment and challenged jurisdictional and statutory defects in the plaintiffs' case.
The supply of Bitcoin has been dormant for the past five and 10 years. Source: Bitbo
There are currently 3.5 million BTC, worth about $215 billion, that have been dormant for the past 10 years and another 6.6 million coins, worth around $406 billion, that have been dormant for over five years, Bitbo data shows.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly backed a containment strategy for digital assets to shield banks and other financial institutions from exposure to crypto and privately issued stablecoins, as lawmakers prepare a report on the country’s digital asset policy.
According to a report by The Economic Times, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain and Executive Director P. Vasudevan presented the central bank’s position to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday.
In a background note submitted to the panel, the RBI reportedly said prohibition remained a recognized policy option and recommended preventing the use of crypto in payments and settlements while restricting banking-sector exposure.
The central bank reportedly warned that applying traditional regulation to crypto could legitimize speculative assets and create a false perception of safety among users. However, it urged policymakers to distinguish crypto from tokenized government securities, corporate bonds and other regulated financial instruments so that restrictions would not hinder tokenization.
Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Source: Chainalysis
India ranked first in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, although the RBI reportedly challenged the methodology behind private-sector adoption rankings.
RBI renews push to isolate crypto from banking
The RBI’s latest reported proposal echoes an approach it took in 2018, when the central bank directed regulated financial institutions to stop dealing in crypto or providing services to individuals and businesses involved in them.
The approach effectively cut off crypto exchanges from India’s banking system without prohibiting individuals from owning or trading crypto.
India’s Supreme Court overturned the circular in March 2020, following a challenge brought by exchanges and the Internet Mobile Association of India. The court recognized the RBI's authority to take preventive action but found that the measure failed the test of proportionality, noting that the central bank had not shown harm suffered by entities it regulated.
In May 2021, the RBI clarified that banks could no longer cite the invalidated circular when cautioning customers against crypto transactions. However, it said regulated institutions could continue applying know-your-customer, anti-money laundering and foreign-exchange compliance requirements.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) confirmed the seizure of another 500 Bitcoin, currently worth about 27 million euros ($30.9 million), in collaboration with Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.
That brings the total Bitcoin seized by CAB in 2026 to 1,500 BTC, worth about $92.4 million, the law enforcement agency said in a social media post on Thursday. CAB said Europol had provided operational coordination, technical expertise and decryption support during the investigation.
The agency did not disclose the identity of the wallet owner or details of the underlying investigation, adding that it had no further comment.
The latest seizure comes months after CAB said it had gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet containing 500 Bitcoin, which Irish media linked to a convicted drug dealer.
CAB seized another 500 BTC. Source: Criminal Assets Bureau
Collins-linked Bitcoin wallet becomes active
Following the previous seizure, The Irish Times reported that the wallet authorities accessed in March was one of 12 holding about 6,000 BTC once owned by Clifton Collins, a convicted drug dealer. The paper containing the wallet's private keys was reportedly lost.
While authorities haven't confirmed whether the latest seizure is linked to Collins, a wallet address associated with him moved 500 Bitcoin to an unknown address on Thursday. Wallets associated with Collins still hold 4,500 Bitcoin, currently worth about $277 million, as of Friday.
Source: Arkham
Collins was arrested in 2017 after police searched his car and found a stash of cannabis, according to the Guardian.
Police said Collins used proceeds from his drug operation to purchase 6,000 Bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, spreading the holdings across 12 wallets. He stored the wallet keys on a single sheet of A4 paper, hidden inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at his rental home.
Collins’ landlord allegedly discarded his belongings after his arrest. Collins claimed the fishing rod case was stolen before the landlord entered the property.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026