Executive brief
Bitcoin has demonstrated resilience above $63,000 despite renewed geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and a visible shift in capital towards artificial intelligence. While Brent crude rose to $78.02 a barrel following US airstrikes on Iran, bitcoin price action remained stable, buoyed by signals that the US and Iran may still seek a diplomatic deal. However, this stability faces headwinds from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, which recorded a net $84 million outflow on Wednesday, ending a brief three-day streak of inflows. This suggests that while retail sentiment remains cautious, institutional demand is yet to provide a consistent floor against macro shocks.
The broader market is witnessing a significant structural shift as institutional giants integrate blockchain rails into core operations. Swift’s new blockchain ledger is entering a 24/7 pilot with 17 global banks, including HSBC and Citi, to facilitate tokenized digital asset transactions. Simultaneously, Sony Bank secured conditional approval for a U.S. stablecoin trust bank capitalised with $40 million. This institutional momentum is supported by technical moonshots such as BNB Chain’s 1 million TPS goal, designed to support an emerging economy of autonomous AI agents. For investors, the primary opportunity lies in the expansion of tokenized equity markets, which saw $8.4 billion in transfers last month, even as the CLARITY Act faces a critical 7 August deadline for U.S. regulatory progress.
Capital rotation remains a persistent risk as sovereign and venture funds rebalance toward the AI sector. Temasek, Singapore’s $400 billion wealth fund, has reportedly pivoted away from crypto to focus on AI, aiming for a 15% portfolio allocation by 2031. This trend is reinforced by Paradigm’s $1.2 billion fund dedicated to AI and robotics. Furthermore, the supply side faces a test with Worldcoin’s WLD daily unlock rate set to drop by 43% on 24 July, a move that will test whether slower emissions can offset the 4.9 billion tokens already unlocked.
1) Top 20 news headlines
- Swift rolls out new blockchain ledger to bring 24/7 banking to 17 global giants; pilot includes major institutions such as HSBC, UBS, and Citi using tokenized digital assets.
- Sony secures conditional approval to set up U.S. stablecoin trust bank; the New York-based subsidiary will be capitalised with $40 million to support upcoming stablecoin operations.
- BNB Chain makes moonshot bet on 1,000,000 TPS for AI as BNB interest falls away; the network aims to support AI agents with latencies below 50 milliseconds.
- Over $7.2 billion have migrated from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP as Mantle joins exodus; migrations include Kelp and Lombard, which both brought over $1 billion in assets.
- U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost a net $84 million on Wednesday; the outflow ended a three-day run that had successfully pulled in roughly $509 million.
- MARA shares surge after 2 GW Texas infrastructure deal expands AI ambitions; the miner’s shares climbed 15% following the acquisition of the massive power capacity site.
- Crypto VC Paradigm launches $1.2 billion AI fund as it broadens beyond digital assets; the new fund targets AI and robotics startups while maintaining a commitment to crypto.
- Aave rolls out vaults for yield-hungry fintech investors; new Stable Vaults product allows payment apps and exchanges to offer yields on stablecoin deposits.
- Robinhood launched a Wall Street layer 2 chain and the market crowned a $150m cat coin first; the CASHCAT memecoin reached nearly $150 million in market cap within a week of the chain’s launch.
- A $1 billion HYPE treasury trade is hitting public markets before liquidity has been tested; the company established a committed equity facility for up to $1 billion in common stock sales.
- Cardano’s wallet hack exposed the user layer holding its on-chain government together; an exploit in SecondFi’s address-generation system drained roughly $2.4 million in ADA from 374 wallets.
- Sam Altman’s Worldcoin cuts WLD unlocks by 43% but 4.9b tokens still need to prove demand; daily unlock rates will drop from 5.1 million to 2.9 million WLD on 24 July.
- Bitcoin price passes $63k after Trump Iran ‘deal’ comments; BTC held the $62,000 level despite renewed Middle East hostilities and rising oil prices.
- Singapore’s Temasek investment fund says crypto is off the table, will focus on AI; the $400 billion wealth fund plans to increase AI holdings to 15% of its portfolio by 2031.
- Tokenized stock transfers surge 105% in a month to $8.4b; industry data shows accelerated activity as crypto firms and traditional institutions expand equity initiatives.
- CLARITY Act misses July target making August 7 a critical date for the bill; supporters are pressing for a vote before the 7 August recess deadline.
- Bitcoin ATMs are becoming the last stop in America’s $11b crypto scam pipeline; FBI data shows 13,460 complaints involving crypto kiosks in 2025 with $388 million in adjusted losses.
- Interpol operation exposes $122m crypto wallet tied to romance scam laundering; a single suspect’s wallet processed over $122.5 million in just 10 months.
- Brazil’s B3 exchange now offers options on bitcoin, ether and solana futures; the products settle into underlying futures contracts with no spot custody involved.
- Revolut says USDT delisting is limited to EEA, Switzerland; support remains unchanged outside these European regions as it winds down the stablecoin offering.
2) BTC and ETH ETF flows
| Metric | BTC | ETH |
|---|---|---|
| Net inflow | -$84,860,056 | $70,477,304.5 |
| Value traded | $1,538,994,942.29 | $483,214,679.1 |
| Net assets | $75,339,109,500.3942 | $9,339,074,757.355999 |
| Cumulative net inflow | $51,281,438,986.198 | $11,007,103,705.116 |
3) X trending news
- Inflation expectations fall; the odds of US inflation rising above 4.5% in 2026 have dropped to a new low of just 19%.
- Big Tech borrowing record; six major firms including Amazon and Nvidia issued $182 billion in investment-grade bonds so far in 2026 for the AI arms race.
- Semiconductor ETF demand; US long semiconductor ETFs attracted $7.1 billion in fresh capital on Tuesday alone.
- EU user withdrawals; Binance CEO Richard Teng reports 70% of EU user withdrawals went to self-hosted wallets instead of MiCA-regulated platforms.
- Russia crypto testing; the nation’s largest private bank has begun testing cryptocurrency trading services for qualified investors.
- S&P 500 concentration; the top 10 US stocks now account for 43% of the index’s total market cap, a near-record high.
- Chat Control proposal passes; the European Parliament has passed a proposal allowing private messages to be monitored.
