Today's news tips:
JPMorgan Chase CEO may be “all in on cryptocurrencies”
Community News: Backpack will open a debt claim channel for FTX users in China and Russia
Binance Wallet to Conduct Hyperion (RION) Bonding Curve TGE on July 16
Binance Alpha to List Caldera (ERA) on July 17
Bit Digital plans to raise $67.3 million through private placement to purchase Ethereum
Regulatory/Macro
Community News: Backpack will open a debt claim channel for FTX users in China and Russia
According to AB Kuai.Dong, multiple sources said Backpack plans to launch a bond market function to take over the claims of Chinese and Russian users that FTX did not recognize before. Users need to synchronize their FTX account information to the Backpack platform before they can initiate a claim. This function is expected to be launched soon. Another X user "Linshan" pointed out that the news is highly credible, Backpack officials have not denied it, and founder Armani Ferrante has liked the relevant tweets. According to previous news, Chinese users' $380 million FTX claims may be difficult to repay, accounting for 82% of the total $470 million in claims in restricted areas.
According to Beincrypto, the source of funds for World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized financial project supported by Trump, was exposed to be suspicious. Previously, a mysterious donor named "Aqua 1" announced that it would provide $100 million to the project and claimed to be from the UAE. But the latest investigation found that "Aqua 1" is actually a shell company related to the controversial company Web3port. It is reported that Web3port is a market maker that was banned by multiple decentralized exchanges in 2023 for suspected market manipulation. Its founder "Dave Lee" is only active on the Internet with anime avatars, and his true identity is a mystery. "Aqua 1" is not registered in the UAE, and no information about the person in charge is disclosed. Although the funds were advertised for "digital freedom infrastructure", they were actually transferred through opaque wallets and offshore accounts, which are directly related to Web3port. Earlier news, Aqua 1 announced a strategic investment of $100 million in WLFI governance tokens.
According to Reuters, Standard Chartered Bank has launched Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services for institutional clients through its UK branch to meet the growing demand for crypto assets. It is reported that the UK-based bank has become the first global systemically important bank to provide secure, compliant and scalable Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services. Standard Chartered Bank said that institutional clients, including companies, investors and asset managers, can now trade digital assets through a familiar foreign exchange trading interface, and will provide non-deliverable forward trading services in the future. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters emphasized that as customer demand accelerates further, Standard Chartered hopes to provide customers with a secure, efficient and regulatory-compliant digital asset trading and risk management path.
Xinhua News Agency: China's economy grew 5.3% year-on-year in the first half of the year
According to Xinhua News Agency, China's economy grew by 5.3% in the first half of the year. According to preliminary calculations, the GDP in the first half of the year was 66,053.6 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3% year-on-year at constant prices. By industry, the added value of the primary industry was 3,117.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%; the added value of the secondary industry was 23,905 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3%; the added value of the tertiary industry was 39,031.4 billion yuan, an increase of 5.5%. By quarter, the GDP in the first quarter grew by 5.4% year-on-year, and in the second quarter it grew by 5.2%. From a month-on-month perspective, the GDP in the second quarter grew by 1.1%.
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. House of Representatives will usher in "Crypto Week" this week. It is expected to vote on the Clarity Act on Wednesday and the GENIUS Act on Thursday morning. If the GENIUS Act is passed, it will become the first major cryptocurrency-related law in the United States. In addition, the House of Representatives also plans to consider a bill prohibiting the U.S. central bank from issuing digital currencies (CBDCs).
According to Crowdfund Insider, digital asset platform Gemini announced that it has added a number of tokenized stocks of well-known US companies for EU investors, including Nike, McDonald's, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Yum! Brands. These tokenized stocks are issued through the Arbitrum blockchain and are 1:1 anchored to real stocks. Investors can conduct fragmented transactions and realize round-the-clock buying and selling without the need for a US brokerage account.
Viewpoint
CICC: There are advantages in deploying stablecoins on the Internet
According to a CICC research report, we believe that the popularization of stablecoins will have limited impact on existing businesses such as WeChat Pay. The essence of domestic third-party payment is a "quasi-stablecoin" mechanism anchored to the RMB, relying on legal reserves to ensure currency stability, and the domestic fee rate is as low as a few thousandths, which is far better than a few percent of overseas platforms. Therefore, we believe that under the current efficient and low-cost mature third-party payment system, the necessity of independent blockchain stablecoins to be popularized in China is not high, so the impact on existing businesses is limited. On the other hand, Internet companies related to cross-border payments are more actively deploying the field of stablecoins. We believe that Internet companies have advantages in the layout of stablecoins: 1) User scenarios: Amazon and other companies have hundreds of millions of users and mature payment scenarios (such as cross-border e-commerce), which can quickly promote the application of stablecoins; 2) Technical capabilities: Internet companies have technical research and development capabilities; 3) Ecological synergy: The closed loop of B-end (supply chain) + C-end (retail payment) can strengthen the network effect of stablecoins.
JPMorgan Chase CEO may be “all in on cryptocurrencies”
According to Watcher.Guru, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called cryptocurrencies a scam and a Ponzi scheme last year, but according to Jim Cramer's latest statement, Dimon may now be "all in on cryptocurrencies."
Trump: Fed should lower interest rates below 1%
US President Trump: The Federal Reserve should lower interest rates to below 1%. In addition, Trump will announce a $70 billion investment plan in artificial intelligence and energy in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the latest move by the White House to accelerate the development of emerging technologies. According to a government official, Trump will announce the details of these new plans at an event outside Pittsburgh. Investments from a number of companies will cover the construction of new data centers, expansion of power generation capacity, upgrading of power grid infrastructure, and the launch of artificial intelligence training programs and apprenticeship programs. The event will be hosted by Republican Senator McCormick. Leaders in the artificial intelligence and energy industries, including up to 60 corporate executives, are expected to attend the event. A McCormick spokesman said that Gray, president of Blackstone Group, will announce a $25 billion data center and energy infrastructure construction plan at the meeting, which is expected to create approximately 6,000 construction jobs and 3,000 long-term jobs each year. Blackstone Group has not yet commented on the matter.
Project News
Binance Alpha Points Phase 1: Over 224 members can claim 1,875 TAC tokens
Eligible users can use Binance Alpha points to claim 1,875 TAC tokens. The airdrop is distributed in two phases: the first phase is the first 18 hours, and users with at least 224 Alpha points can claim; the second phase is the last 6 hours, and users with at least 140 Alpha points can participate. According to previous news, Binance Alpha and Binance Futures will list TAC (TAC).
Binance Wallet to Conduct Hyperion (RION) Bonding Curve TGE on July 16
Binance Wallet announced the exclusive launch of the Bonding Curve version of the Token Generation Event (TGE), with the first project being Hyperion (RION). It is reported that the subscription activity will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on July 16, 2025, Beijing time, and eligible users need to use Binance Alpha points to participate in the subscription.
Binance Futures to Launch CUSDT and VELVETUSDT Perpetual Contracts
According to Binance's announcement, Binance Futures will launch USDⓈ-M CUSDT and VELVETUSDT perpetual contracts on July 15, 2025, supporting up to 50x leverage. CUSDT contracts will be launched at 09:00 (UTC), and VELVETUSDT contracts will be launched at 09:15 (UTC). Both support 24-hour trading and multi-asset mode, with USDT as the settlement asset, and the funding rate capped at ±2%, with settlement every four hours.
PeckShield: ArcadiaFi lost about $2.5 million in attack
According to PeckShieldAlert, Arcadia Finance platform was hacked and lost about $2.5 million in crypto assets. The attacker has exchanged the stolen funds for about 840 ETH and transferred them from Base to the Ethereum network through a cross-chain bridge.
Binance Alpha to List Caldera (ERA) on July 17
Binance Alpha will be the first platform to list Caldera (ERA) on July 17. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Alpha Points through the Alpha Events page after trading is launched.
According to the announcement of the Movement Network Foundation, the $MOVE repurchase has been completed. The Foundation has repurchased approximately 180 million $MOVE tokens at an average price of approximately US$0.21.
Important data
According to SoSoValue data, on July 14, Eastern Time, Ethereum spot ETFs had a total net inflow of $259 million, recording net inflows for the seventh consecutive day. Among them, BlackRock ETF ETHA had a net inflow of $151 million, with a total historical inflow of $6.443 billion; Grayscale ETH ETF had a net inflow of $43.7863 million, with a total historical inflow of $868 million. As of now, the total net asset value of ETH spot ETFs is $13.767 billion, accounting for 3.8% of the total market value of ETH.
According to ai_9684xtpa monitoring, a whale transferred 5,360 bitcoins to Galaxy in batches in the past half hour. At present, the total amount transferred by the whale has reached 35,370 BTC, worth about 4.16 billion US dollars, accounting for 44.2% of its total account holdings.
According to SoSoValue data, on July 14, Eastern Time, Bitcoin spot ETFs had a total net inflow of $297 million, recording net inflows for the eighth consecutive day. BlackRock ETF IBIT had a net inflow of $395 million, with a total historical inflow of $54.799 billion; Grayscale BTC ETF had a net inflow of $12.747 million; ARKB had a net outflow of $99.5699 million. As of now, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $153.295 billion, accounting for 6.41% of the total market value of BTC.
According to Onchain Lens, two multi-signature wallets (likely belonging to the same entity) spent a total of $100.54 million to purchase 33,366 ETH at an average price of $3,013. Among them, the "0x08d" address spent $57.5 million to purchase 19,088.6 ETH, and the "0x5f3" address spent $43.05 million to purchase 14,277.6 ETH.
Institutional holdings
SharpLink Gaming purchased another 24,000 ETH, bringing its total holdings close to 300,000
According to Ember, SharpLink Gaming continued to purchase 24,371 ETH through Coinbase Prime 5 hours ago, worth about $73.21 million. Since reserving ETH in micro-strategy mode in early June, the company has purchased a total of about 294,000 ETH, with an average purchase price of about $2,695, and currently has a floating profit of $91.83 million.
Bit Digital plans to raise $67.3 million through private placement to purchase Ethereum
According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed Bit Digital announced that it plans to raise approximately $67.3 million through a private placement of 22 million common shares to institutional investors, and plans to use the funds raised to purchase Ethereum. The company has previously converted all of its Bitcoin reserves into Ethereum, and as of July 7, it held approximately 100,603 ETH, worth approximately $301 million. In addition, Bit Digital disclosed that its preliminary revenue for the second quarter is expected to be between $24.3 million and $26.9 million.
According to The Block, although Vanguard Group has publicly criticized Bitcoin as an "immature asset" and unsuitable for long-term investors, the giant, which manages $10 trillion in assets, has become a major shareholder of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) through its funds, holding 20 million shares, accounting for 8% of the outstanding shares. Vanguard Group is likely to surpass Capital Group in the fourth quarter and become the largest shareholder of Strategy. Strategy, co-founded by Michael Saylor, is a major holder of Bitcoin. The company has recently purchased 4,225 Bitcoins, and its total holdings have reached 601,550.
According to an official announcement, French IoT semiconductor company Sequans Communications (NYSE: SONS) announced that it purchased an additional 683 bitcoins at a price of approximately US$79 million, with an average purchase price of approximately US$116,213 per bitcoin, including various fees. As of July 14, 2025, the company holds 1,053 bitcoins, with a total purchase price of approximately US$120 million.
Click Holdings to build a $100 million Bitcoin and Solana asset reserve
According to official news, Click Holdings (NASDAQ: CLIK), a provider of human resources and elderly care solutions, plans to build a Bitcoin and Solana asset reserve of up to $100 million, and integrate cryptocurrency payment methods into employee salary distribution and customer transactions to promote the modernization of its elderly care business. It is not clear how the company will raise $100 million. As of December 31, 2024, its current market value is $13 million and its cash reserves are $544,000.
According to the official announcement, Matador Technologies Inc., a Canadian listed company, has submitted a preliminary simplified prospectus to the securities regulatory commissions of all Canadian provinces except Quebec. If approved, the final simplified prospectus will allow Matador to issue common shares, debt securities, warrants, subscription warrants, securities or any combination of the above securities with a total amount of up to 900 million Canadian dollars from time to time within 25 months. The company's management believes that the simplified prospectus will enable the company to efficiently obtain funds to seek future growth opportunities, make strategic acquisitions and accumulate Bitcoin asset reserves.
Strategy spent about $472.5 million last week to increase its holdings of 4,225 bitcoins
According to official news, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) spent about $472.5 million to purchase 4,225 bitcoins at a price of $111,827 per bitcoin between July 7 and July 13; its bitcoin investment return rate has reached 20.2% since the beginning of 2025. As of July 13, 2025, the company holds 601,550 bitcoins, which were purchased at a price of about $71,268 per bitcoin, with a total cost of about $42.87 billion.
According to PR Newswire, BitMine Immersion, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company, announced that as of July 14, Eastern Time, the company's ETH holdings reached 163,142, which is worth more than $500 million at a price of $3,072.67.
