The China Industrial Internet Research Institute recently held a "Stablecoin and Industrial Digital Assets Seminar" to discuss core topics such as stablecoin policy supervision, industrial digital asset transformation, and the integrated development of RWA and the industrial Internet. Relevant comrades from the Information Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology attended the meeting for guidance. Representatives of financial experts from Guosen Securities Co., Ltd., SoftBank Asia Venture Capital, Fosun Fortune International Holdings Co., Ltd. and other financial companies attended the meeting.
US SEC considers exemptions for cryptocurrency innovation
According to Bloomberg, Paul Atkins, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said the SEC is considering establishing regulatory exemptions for innovative projects to incentivize tokenization. This move was made after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a landmark stablecoin bill. Atkins said the SEC is exploring new trading methods and more targeted regulatory exemptions to promote the construction of a tokenized securities ecosystem. He also said that stablecoin legislation is an important step for the United States to become a global cryptocurrency center.
White House confirms President Trump supports tax exemption for small Bitcoin transactions
According to Bitcoin Magazine, White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt said at a press conference that President Trump has explicitly supported the establishment of a $600 tax-free threshold for Bitcoin transactions to promote the daily use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Levitt said the government will continue to explore legislative solutions to make crypto payments more convenient and efficient. In addition, the signing ceremony of the GENIUS Act will be held tomorrow, and the bill is considered an important step for Trump to fulfill his promise to make the United States a "crypto capital."
Argot Collective sold 600 ETH again 5 hours ago for 2.06 million USDC
According to Embers, Argot Collective, a non-profit development organization that received 7,000 ETH operating funds from the Ethereum Foundation, sold another 600 ETH five hours ago for $2.06 million in USDC. Since July 11, the organization has cumulatively exchanged 4,226.6 ETH for $13.26 million in USDC, with an average selling price of $3,138.
XRP breaks through $3.59, hits new all-time high
The market shows that the price of XRP has risen by more than 40% in the past week, and has now exceeded $3.59, at $3.593 per coin. The total market value has exceeded $210 billion (second only to BTC and ETH), setting a new record high.
According to the documents on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SharpLink Gaming, Inc. announced on July 17 that it plans to issue additional common stock totaling up to US$5 billion through a sales agreement with AGP/Alliance Global Partners. The funds raised from this additional issuance will be mainly used to acquire Ethereum (ETH) as the company's main reserve asset, and will also be used for daily operations, market development and core alliance marketing business. SharpLink Gaming is headquartered in Minneapolis, focusing on online performance marketing and actively deploying the crypto game market. The company's common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market with the stock code "SBET".
Coinbase to List Caldera (ERA)
According to Coinbase Assets, Coinbase will launch support for Caldera (ERA), an Ethereum network (ERC-20) token. Currently, transfers of ERA assets are open in regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support trading. If liquidity conditions are met, the ERA-USD trading pair will be launched in stages, and some jurisdictions may have restrictions. In addition, ERA will be labeled "experimental."
Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transfers millions of XRP to Coinbase, worth about $26 million
According to Decrypt, Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple, transferred another $26 million worth of XRP to Coinbase early this morning. Blockchain data shows that these transfers were divided into four transactions, each for 2 million XRP. In addition, more than $40 million worth of XRP was transferred to an unknown address on Thursday. Market data shows that XRP currently broke through $3.40 this morning, setting a new record high.
SharpLink Gaming increased its holdings by 18,712 ETH, worth $65.45 million
According to Onchain Lens, SharpLink Gaming has added 18,712 ETH worth $65.45 million to its Ethereum strategic reserve. Currently, the company holds a total of 326,074 ETH with a total value of approximately $1.14 billion.
The White House plans to hold a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act at 2 a.m. on the 19th
According to Eleanor Terrett, the White House is preparing to pass the GENIUS Act today and plans to hold a (presidential) signing ceremony for industry leaders and lawmakers at 2:30 p.m. EST tomorrow (2 a.m. Beijing time on the 19th).
U.S. stocks close: S&P 500, Nasdaq and Nvidia all hit new highs
U.S. stocks closed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially closing up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.54%, and the Nasdaq up 0.74%, the latter two hitting record highs. Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose nearly 1%, with a closing market value of over $4.2 trillion, setting a new record. Coinbase rose 3.15% to $410.75.
AI startup Perplexity’s valuation soars to $18 billion
According to the Financial Times, artificial intelligence startup Perplexity has a valuation of $18 billion after the latest round of financing. The company is backed by well-known investors such as Nvidia and SoftBank and is currently negotiating with investors for a new round of $1 billion in financing. With its AI-driven search technology, Perplexity is accelerating its challenge to the status of traditional search engine giants such as Google.
According to Onchain Lens, a Bitcoin whale from the "Satoshi era" has just deposited the last 40,192 Bitcoins (about $4.83 billion) into Galaxy Digital. In the past four days, the Bitcoin OG has transferred a total of 80,201 Bitcoins (about $9.6 billion) to Galaxy Digital.
U.S. House of Representatives passes three cryptocurrency bills
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed three cryptocurrency-related legislations, namely the CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. The CLARITY Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act will be sent to the Senate for deliberation. The GENIUS Act is expected to be signed into law by Trump on Friday. It is reported that the voting results of the CLARITY Act were: 294 votes in favor and 134 votes against. 78 Democratic members voted in favor, and 134 votes against were all from Democratic members.
BlackRock Inc BLK.N has submitted an application to regulators to add staking functionality to its Ethereum ETF, documents show.
Trump plans to open U.S. pension market to cryptocurrencies and alternative assets
According to the Financial Times, US President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order to allow 401k retirement plans to invest in a variety of alternative assets such as cryptocurrencies, gold and private equity. This move will drive major changes in the US $9 trillion retirement market. The executive order will instruct regulators to study the removal of relevant obstacles and provide 401k investors with more diversified asset options. The Trump administration has previously relaxed restrictions on retirement account investments in cryptocurrencies and actively promoted relevant legislation.
ETH breaks through $3,500, up 2.56% on the day
The OKX market data shows that ETH has just broken through $3,500 and is currently trading at $3,507.63 per coin, with a daily increase of 2.56%.
According to The Block, Blockskye, a blockchain-based travel platform, announced the completion of a $15.8 million Series C financing, led by Blockchange, with participation from United Airlines Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, KSV Global, Lasagna, Litquidity Ventures, Longbrook Ventures, and TFJ Capital. This round of financing will be used to expand the European, Latin American and Asian markets and develop real-time payment products based on stablecoins. Blockskye directly connects with airlines and other suppliers through blockchain technology to help corporate clients such as PwC reduce travel costs. The company claims that its platform can reduce travel expenses by 14.5% and achieve 84% savings in agency fees. The current team size is more than 40 people, and plans to add 30 new technical and sales positions.
Yala announces token economics: total supply 1 billion, 3.4% allocated to airdrops
Yala announced that the token YALA has been launched and announced the token economics. The total supply is 1 billion (fixed), and the specific distribution includes: investors (15.98%), 1 year lock-up, followed by 18 months of quarterly vesting; ecosystem and community (20%), 45% unlocked at TGE, and the remaining 55% released linearly within 24 months; foundation and treasury department (29.12%), 30% unlocked at TGE, 1 year lock-up period, followed by 36 months of linear vesting; marketing (10%), 20% unlocked at TGE, 1 year lock-up, followed by 24 months of linear vesting; team (20%), 1 year lock-up, followed by 24 months of linear monthly vesting; airdrop (3.4%), a one-time distribution to early adopters, testnet and mainnet participants, and users who have made meaningful contributions to the Yala and YetiFootprints programs, fully unlocked at TGE; market makers (1.5%), the vesting schedule is subject to the terms negotiated in the market making agreement.
Caldera has opened airdrop applications
The Caldera Foundation has announced that the ERA airdrop is open for claiming. Wallets that have successfully pre-claimed their allocation must claim their tokens before 8:00 on August 1st.
Metaplanet announces Charles Schwab as second largest shareholder
Simon Gerovich, CEO of Japanese listed company Metaplanet, posted on social media that Charles Schwab is now its second largest shareholder, holding 61.2 million shares, accounting for approximately 8.99% of Metaplanet.
Russia's largest bank Sberbank plans to provide custody services for Russian crypto assets
According to Reuters, Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, said on Thursday that it hopes to provide custody services for Russian cryptocurrency assets, striving to play a leading role in the development of digital assets in Russia. Anatoly Pronin, executive director of Sberbank's alternative payment solutions department, said that after seeing more and more banks abroad begin to provide custody services, the bank has submitted a proposal to the central bank on the regulation of domestic crypto assets. Pronin said at a discussion on cryptocurrency regulation that Sberbank's proposal would make cryptocurrency assets regulated in a similar way to bank account assets, and the bank would ensure the security of tokens. Safekeeping crypto assets on behalf of customers means that if law enforcement agencies suspect misconduct, these assets may be frozen, but this move will make trading operations more convenient and protect accounts from hacker attacks.
Plasma officially launches XPL public sale, token economic model announced
PANews reported on July 17 that the stablecoin Layer2 network Plasma officially announced that the public sale of its token XPL has been launched and will last until 9:00 a.m. on July 28, Eastern Time. In addition, the token economic model of XPL has also been announced, with a total supply of 10 billion. The specific distribution plan is as follows: 10% will be allocated to the public sale, and the XPL of non-US buyers will be fully unlocked when the Plasma public mainnet beta is launched; the XPL of US buyers will be locked for 12 months and will be fully unlocked on July 28, 2026. 40% will be allocated to the ecosystem and growth, of which 8% will be unlocked immediately when the mainnet beta is launched, and 32% will be unlocked monthly in proportion within three years after the mainnet beta is launched. 25% will be allocated to the team, of which 1/3 will be unlocked one year after the public launch of the mainnet beta, and the remaining 2/3 will be unlocked monthly in proportion within the next two years. 25% will be allocated to investors, and the unlocking schedule is the same as that of the team.
According to Globenewswire, Nasdaq-listed Bit Origin (NASDAQ: BTOG) announced that it has reached an agreement with several qualified investors to start the DOGE treasury reserve, with a total financing of up to US$500 million, including US$400 million in equity financing and US$100 million in convertible bond financing. The company plans to hold DOGE as a core asset for a long time and achieve long-term value enhancement through "increase in the amount of coins held per share". The company also plans to explore new businesses such as payment applications, miner services, and ecological construction around DOGE. At present, the company has completed the first convertible bond financing of US$15 million, which will be used for the first batch of DOGE purchases.
BSTR plans to be listed in the U.S. through a SPAC merger with 30,021 BTC when it is launched
According to Businesswire, BSTR, Holdings Inc. (BSTR) announced that it has reached a final business merger agreement with Cantor Equity Partners I, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPO). Cantor Equity Partners I, Inc. is a special purpose acquisition company initiated by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services and real estate services holding company. After the transaction is completed, the merged company is expected to trade under the stock code "BSTR". BSTR said that when BSTR starts, it will hold 30,021 bitcoins on its balance sheet, which will become the fourth largest listed bitcoin reserve and can obtain up to $1.5 billion in private equity investment post-listing PIPE financing, which is the largest PIPE financing announced in a merger transaction with the Bitcoin Reserve SPAC to date, and the SPAC will contribute approximately $200 million in additional funds depending on redemptions.
US electric car company Volcon raises over $500 million to launch Bitcoin financial strategy
According to investing, Volcon, an American electric car company, announced that it will adopt a Bitcoin financial strategy. It has reached a securities purchase agreement with certain institutions and qualified investors to purchase and sell 50,142,851 common shares in a private placement at a price of $10 per share, with an estimated total proceeds of more than $500 million, excluding placement agent fees and other issuance expenses (private placement). Empery served as the lead investor, and participants in this issuance included well-known crypto venture capital firms and infrastructure providers such as FalcolnX, Pantera, Borderless, RK Capital and Relayer Capital, as well as traditional financial investors. The issuance is expected to be completed on or about July 21, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. The company plans to immediately use at least 95% of the total proceeds to acquire Bitcoin, which will serve as the company's main financial reserve asset.
Listed company GameSquare plans to raise $70 million through rights issue to continue purchasing ETH
Nasdaq-listed Game Square Holdings announced that it plans to issue 46,666,667 shares of common stock to raise $70 million. The company plans to use the funds to increase its ETH holdings. GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna revealed that the issuance includes a 15% over-allotment. If all are exercised, the total funds raised will reach approximately $80.5 million. The relevant transaction is expected to be completed around July 18, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
Publicly listed Enlightify Inc. plans to purchase up to $20 million of CYBER tokens within 12 months
Cyber officials said on the X platform: "The Cyber Foundation welcomes Enlightify Inc. (NYSE: ENFY) as the first public company to commit treasury funds to invest in CYBER tokens. Enlightify Inc. will purchase up to $20 million in CYBER tokens within 12 months."
Binance said on the X platform that in response to user feedback on the Binance Alpha airdrop event, the platform has launched a series of optimization processes, including advance notices, process simplification and other measures, in an effort to improve user experience. It will also continue to pay attention to the adjustment effect, and further optimize and iterate according to actual conditions. In response to the community's feedback that some users have violated regulations when participating in the Alpha airdrop event, the platform has conducted strict investigations and identifications through multiple dimensions. Once a violation is confirmed, measures will be taken immediately against the account involved; in serious cases, the account may be permanently banned.
CANARY submits S1 application to the US SEC for STAKED INJ ETF
According to the SEC's official website, CANARY submitted the S1 application document to the US SEC for the STAKED INJ ETF.
According to The Block, Ephemera, the developer of the decentralized messaging protocol XMTP, has completed a $20 million Series B financing round, led by Union Square Ventures, a16z crypto and Lightspeed Faction, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Offline Ventures, Sound Ventures and Distributed Global. After this round of financing, Ephemera's equity valuation is $300 million, and the broader network valuation of the XMTP protocol, which will issue tokens, is $750 million. The XMTP protocol has now been integrated into Coinbase's newly launched Base application, upgrading from an optional feature to core infrastructure. The protocol provides end-to-end encrypted communication services and supports secure interactions between wallet addresses. The test network was launched in February this year. Ephemera said it will expand the team size to promote the launch of the protocol mainnet and the construction of the ecosystem. USV partner Fred Wilson will join its board of directors.
According to the official announcement, Semler Scientific, a US-listed company, spent US$25 million to increase its holdings of 210 BTC and currently holds a total of 4,846 BTC.
Reporter: The GENIUS Act is expected to pass and be sent to Trump for signature
According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, the Cryptocurrency Week agenda has been restarted, and the House of Representatives is expected to hold several major votes, including the GENIUS Act, which is expected to be passed and sent to President Trump's desk. The White House has scheduled a signing ceremony for tomorrow. In the Senate, Senator Tim Scott will host a roundtable meeting of Republican Banking Committee members at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, focusing on the future development of digital asset regulation and compliance. Industry participants include: Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, former SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar, Algorand founder Silvio Micali, crypto lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén, IOHK Chief Legal Officer and Chief Policy Officer Joel Telpner, Wave Digital Assets co-founder Les Borsai, and blockchain researcher Christina Ovezik.
Publicly listed BitMine Immersion reveals that its Ethereum holdings are worth more than $1 billion
According to PR Newswire, BitMine Immersion (NYSE AMERICAN: BMNR) announced today that the value of its Ethereum and Ethereum equivalents has exceeded $1 billion. In order to advance its asset-light treasury strategy, the company completed its first round of private financing of $250 million on July 8. According to Bloomberg data, as of 3:45 a.m. Eastern Time on July 17, the company held a total of 300,657 Ethereum1, with a price of $3,461.89 per coin.
According to the monitoring of the on-chain analyst Ember, Jump Crypto converted 11,802 stETH (40.5 million USD) into ETH in the past hour and transferred it to the address 0xf58...621, and has begun to transfer it to the exchange. These ETH Jump Crypto has been kept for a long time, and they come from the 120,000 ETH they "hacked" back from the Wormhole hacker in February 2023. A lot of them have been sold before, and now it is estimated that there are 28,000 more.
Binance Alpha to List Aspecta (ASP)
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will launch Aspecta (ASP) on July 24. Eligible users can use Binance Alpha points to claim the airdrop on the Alpha event page, and they can claim it after trading is open. More details will be announced soon.
According to Cointelegraph, BitMEX data shows that nearly 60% of pre-sale participants in the Pump.fun initial coin offering (IC0) have sold or transferred tokens to centralized exchanges (CEX) or other wallets. Specifically, among the 10,145 participants, 6,042 wallets (59.6%) have sold or transferred tokens, 3,791 wallets (37.4%) continue to hold, and 312 wallets (3%) increased their holdings after a week.
Australian regulator names cryptocurrencies a top threat in financial crime crackdown
According to Decrypt, Australia's financial intelligence agency, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), announced on Wednesday that it would list cryptocurrencies as the top threat to financial crime crackdowns and announced regulatory priorities, marking Australia's "largest anti-money laundering law reform in a generation." Its CEO Brendan Thomas said that priority would be given to law enforcement in areas with "the greatest risk of harm," with a particular focus on digital currency exchanges and virtual asset service providers because they can enable instant global transfers. With the expansion of the regulatory scope, about 80,000 new companies will be included in the so-called "second phase" of industry regulation, including real estate agents, lawyers, property transfers, accountants, trust and company service providers, and precious metals and gemstone dealers. Companies that currently have reporting obligations will face new regulatory requirements from March 31, 2026, while companies in the second phase must complete compliance by July 1, 2026.
Solana ecosystem DEX Raydium has repurchased over $190 million worth of tokens
Raydium, a Solana-based decentralized exchange, announced on Wednesday that it has allocated a total of $190.4 million to buy back RAY tokens. The platform will buy back a portion of RAY tokens from the open market, funded by its revenue. According to data shared by 0xINFRA, a contributor on the X platform, this move brings Raydium's cumulative buyback total to 69.1 million RAY, accounting for about 25% of the circulating supply. RAY tokens were last traded at nearly $2.99, and at this price, the token's nominal market value is about $800 million. However, after accounting for the repurchased tokens, the market value adjusted for circulation will be close to $593 million.
According to The Block, Spiko, a tokenized money market fund platform, announced the completion of a $22 million Series A financing round, led by Index Ventures, with participation from institutions such as White Star Frst, Rerail, Bpifrance and Blockwall, as well as angel investors such as Revolut co-founder Nikolay Storonsky, Kyriba founder Jean-Luc Robert, Bridge co-founder Zach Abrams, Wise CTO Harsh Sinha, and Blackstone Group co-chief investment officer Lionel Assant. Spiko focuses on providing tokenized money market fund services to European companies, and users can obtain daily returns by investing in low-risk assets such as eurozone and U.S. Treasury bonds. The platform uses blockchain technologies such as Ethereum and Arbitrum, and has currently processed more than $900 million in liquidity. The company plans to cooperate with institutions such as Memo Bank, aiming to exceed $1 billion in asset management by 2025.
According to PolkaWorld, at yesterday's Web3 Summit event, Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot, pointed out that Polkadot NPoS (Nominated Proof of Stake) is dragging down its security model and needs to be fundamentally replaced and reconstructed. Polkadot pays up to $500 million in security costs each year, and this expense mainly comes from Staking rewards. In the current structure, this fee is 85% of Polkadot's annual inflation, and this 85% fee is cashed out by validators and nominators, flowing out of the ecosystem, and not converted into network use or ecological activity. Gavin believes that this is an "unsustainable" fiscal structure that will drag down the network's fiscal discipline and weaken the accuracy and efficiency of ecological incentives. He proposed an alternative path PoP (Proof of Personality), which uses "who you are" as the basis of power and trust on the chain. Gavin proposed a solution: in the short term, cut security expenses by 80%, such as setting a fixed salary for validators, limiting self-staking and super-high return expectations, introducing a "stable issuance model" for DOT, raising the threshold for validators, and introducing KYC, interviews and other mechanisms; in the medium term, introduce PoP and Individuality, and start an identity-driven security model; in the medium term, supplementary tools include closing invalid resources and introducing native stablecoins.
According to CoinDesk, Strategy (MSTR), a software company led by Michael Saylor that focuses on buying Bitcoin, has set a market value record after years of transformation based on aggressive equity issuance. The company's market value has soared to $128.5 billion, becoming the 84th largest listed company in the United States. Five years ago, the company's market value was less than $2 billion.
PANews reported on July 17 that according to Binance's official announcement, eligible users can use Binance Alpha Points to claim 150 ERA token airdrops after the launch. This airdrop will be distributed in two phases: Phase 1 (first 18 hours): users with at least 224 Alpha Points can claim; Phase 2 (last 6 hours): users with at least 140 Alpha Points can participate, first come first served, until the airdrop pool is full or the event ends. Claiming the airdrop will consume 15 Binance Alpha Points. Users must confirm their claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours, otherwise it will be deemed as giving up the airdrop.
Arthur Hayes allegedly purchased $1 million of LDO and $1 million of AAVE 1 hour ago
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, after purchasing ENA tokens a few days ago, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes should have purchased ETH ecological tokens LDO and AAVE: he received $1 million of LDO and $1 million of AAVE from Flowdesk 1 hour ago (Yu Jin has updated this data, previously it was $500,000 of LDO and $500,000 of AAVE). In addition, his on-chain wallet has transferred out a lot of USDC in recent times, and purchased $6 million of ETH, $2 million of ENA, $1 million of LDO, $1 million of AAVE and other ETH ecological tokens.
Yooldo Games (ESPORTS) to be listed on Binance Alpha
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will be the first platform to launch Yooldo Games (ESPORTS) on July 19. Eligible users can go to the Alpha event page to use Binance Alpha points to claim the airdrop after Alpha trading is open. Specific details will be announced separately.
The "WLFI Token Transfer Proposal" was voted through early this morning
According to the voting page information, the voting on the "WLFI Token Transfer Proposal" of the Trump family's crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) ended and passed early this morning. The goals of the proposal are as follows: Make WLFI tokens transferable, thereby achieving broader community governance participation through peer-to-peer transactions or secondary markets; promote the transition of the WLFI ecosystem from closed participation to open participation; enhance the practicality and scope of use of tokens; initiate the next stage of community ownership and interaction; and align long-term token incentives with the adoption and success of the protocol.
Upbit to List ERA Tokens in KRW, BTC, and USDT Markets
According to the official announcement, South Korean crypto exchange Upbit will list ERA tokens in the KRW, BTC, and USDT markets.
Russian lawmakers pass digital ruble bill, expected to take effect on September 1, 2026
According to Cryptonews, Russian lawmakers voted to pass a digital ruble bill, stipulating that the central bank's digital currency will be launched in September 2026. Previously, the State Duma had passed a law on the "gradual introduction" of the digital ruble, which would then be submitted to the upper house for approval and then to President Putin for signature. However, these two steps were just formalities, and the law would take effect on September 1, 2026, a new date after the central bank postponed its original summer 2025 launch plan. The law incorporates the central bank's digital currency implementation schedule into regulations: from September 1, 2026, companies with annual revenues of 120 million rubles or more must provide services, medium-sized companies have an extra year of compliance time, small companies and start-ups will comply before September 1, 2028, and foreign banks and companies will also be applicable. At the same time, it is stipulated that digital ruble QR codes must be used for payment of goods and services, large companies are obliged to provide payment options, some small companies may not join, and merchants without network coverage or with annual revenues of less than 5 million rubles do not need to accept it.
