Cambridge report says Ethereum cut power use about 99.98% after The Merge The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance said Ethereum’s September 2022 shift to proof-of-stake slashed network power demand by roughly 3.5 orders of magnitude, from about 2.4 GW before The Merge to 7.87 GWh per year, or around 0.90 MW per day. The report also estimates emissions fell from 10.3 MtCO2 to 2.37 ktCO2e after the consensus change.
Progmat migrates ¥452B+ security-token platform to Avalanche L1 Progmat has moved more than ¥452 billion in security-token assets from Corda 5 to a dedicated Avalanche Layer 1, shifting all active projects on the platform and adding EVM support via Solidity contracts. The company said right transfers are now three to five times faster, with transaction finality below two seconds, while existing institutional controls and services were preserved with minimal disruption.
American Bitcoin sets Q2 earnings for August 3 after reverse split and stock drop American Bitcoin will report Q2 2026 results before markets open on August 3, with a call at 8:30 a.m. ET, as investors gauge whether higher mining capacity offset weaker Bitcoin prices. In Q1, the miner produced a record 817 BTC and cut cost per coin 23% to about $36,200, but still posted an $81.8 million net loss after a $117.2 million digital asset loss. The update follows a 1-for-15 reverse split, after which ABTC fell more than 23% in adjusted trading.
Turkish prosecutors charge 504 in alleged 40 billion lira laundering network Istanbul prosecutors have accused 504 people of running an alleged money laundering scheme that moved nearly 40 billion Turkish liras from illegal betting through shell companies, jewellery stores, payment providers, POS terminals and crypto transfers. The 1,548-page indictment says the network used a digital accounting platform called M80 and sent part of the proceeds abroad after converting them into cryptocurrencies; prosecutors are seeking up to 34.5 years for alleged ringleader Türker Ak and up to 31 years for alleged manager Murat Dönmezoğlu.
FBI warns of rising crypto payment scams targeting Kentuckians The FBI’s Louisville field office says scammers posing as police or other government officials are pressuring Kentucky residents to send crypto, often via crypto ATMs, by claiming they face arrest warrants or jury duty problems. The agency said IC3 logged 475 such complaints in Kentucky in 2025, with losses above $3.15 million, while nationwide complaints topped 39,949 and losses exceeded $833 million.
Thailand to audit high-volume USDT transfers in anti-money laundering push Thailand’s central bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission will audit high-volume stablecoin transactions, with a focus on USDT, as part of a broader crackdown on money laundering and the country’s “gray money” economy. The move expands compliance checks across banks, cash networks, currency exchanges and gold trading, while cash deposits above 5 million baht ($150,000) will require full disclosure and high-value cash transactions will need source-of-funds declarations.
Gwalior CA loses ₹21.06 crore in fake crypto trading scam A 70-year-old chartered accountant in Gwalior, Ashok Vijayvargiya, lost ₹21.06 crore ($2.2 million) after fraudsters befriended him on social media and lured him onto a fake crypto trading platform with fabricated early gains. Madhya Pradesh’s State Cyber Cell has filed a case and is tracing 20 bank accounts, three WhatsApp numbers, and the scam portal’s URL to try to freeze linked funds.
Ryuk ransomware suspect pleads guilty in $15M bitcoin extortion case Karen Serobovich Vardanyan, a 34-year-old Armenian national extradited from Ukraine, pleaded guilty on July 8 in Oregon to conspiracy and computer fraud for helping operate a Ryuk ransomware campaign that prosecutors say collected about 1,610 BTC worth more than $15 million from US victims. He agreed to pay over $1.1 million in restitution and faces up to 15 years in prison at sentencing.
Ripple nearly shut down after SEC sued over XRP, Garlinghouse says Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company came close to shutting down after the SEC sued Ripple, him, and co-founder Chris Larsen in 2020 over XRP sales. In a July 8 podcast interview, he said Ripple considered dissolving and distributing its XRP to shareholders, but kept operating despite about $150 million in legal costs and years of stalled U.S. business.
BlackRock’s BUIDL passes $900M on Avalanche after $436M weekly jump BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund BUIDL climbed from about $464 million to more than $900 million on Avalanche in seven days, a 105% increase that makes Avalanche the fund’s second-largest network after Ethereum. RWA.xyz data shows BUIDL now totals about $2.87 billion across chains, though BlackRock and Securitize have not disclosed whether the Avalanche surge came from new subscriptions, transfers, or both.
Stablecoin market posts biggest monthly dollar drop since Terra-Luna The stablecoin market fell by about $7.7 billion in June, taking the decline since May’s peak to roughly $10 billion, the largest monthly dollar drop since the May 2022 Terra-Luna crash. USDT slipped to about $184 billion from $190 billion in May, while USDC fell to around $73 billion from just under $80 billion in March 2026, as reduced on-chain liquidity weighed on supply. Analysts said the pullback looks temporary, but shrinking supply could remove a tailwind for crypto markets until new demand appears.
Ethereum draft EIP-8287 proposes privacy-native fungible tokens on EVM A new draft, EIP-8287, proposes a standard interface for privacy-native fungible tokens on the EVM, replacing public balances with encrypted UTXO notes and Groth16 proofs while keeping totalSupply publicly verifiable. The proposed IPERC20 standard drops ERC-20 functions like balanceOf and allowance, adds private mint, burn and transfer flows, and binds each asset to a compliance blacklist root so frozen notes cannot be spent.
Bitfufu’s June BTC output falls as managed power capacity drops Bitfufu produced 125 BTC in June, with daily output falling to 4.2 BTC from 5.7 BTC in May as its managed power capacity declined to 273 MW from 346 MW. Of the total, 70 BTC came from self-mining and 55 BTC from cloud mining services, while total hashrate under management stood at 15.3 EH/s. Self-owned hashrate still rose 9.4% to 3.5 EH/s after the company deployed 1,200 S21 XP miners.
Aave V4 expansion to Avalanche proposed with $15M incentive package Aave Labs has proposed activating Aave V4 on Avalanche, starting with one Liquidity Hub and three Spokes under the protocol’s Hub-and-Spoke architecture. The plan includes Avalanche Foundation incentives of up to $15 million tied to launch milestones and growth KPIs, with an RWA hub slated for a later phase. The proposal now moves to community feedback, risk review by LlamaRisk, then ARFC Snapshot and a final AIP vote if approved.
Saylor and Back oppose proposed Bitcoin fork to curb Ordinals spam Michael Saylor and Adam Back have publicly opposed BIP-110, a Bitcoin proposal introduced in December 2025 to temporarily restrict non-monetary transactions such as Ordinals-style inscriptions. Saylor said the fork could invalidate ordinary transactions and hurt Bitcoin’s credibility, while Back called it an attempt to “police other people” that clashes with Bitcoin’s permissionless, censorship-resistant ethos.
Bitcoin Policy Institute moves to join $293B dormant wallet lawsuit The Bitcoin Policy Institute filed on July 10 to intervene as a defendant in a New York case seeking legal title to 39,069 dormant bitcoin addresses, arguing its own long-term self-custodied treasury could be exposed if the plaintiffs win. Justice Kathy J. King is set to hear BPI’s request, Ian Cohen’s amicus bid, and John Doe 33’s motion to dismiss on July 14.
Morgan Stanley’s tracked Bitcoin holdings top 5,700 BTC Morgan Stanley added nearly 1,000 BTC over the past two weeks, pushing its tracked balance to 5,761 BTC worth about $369.9 million, Arkham data shows. The inflows came in multiple transfers from Coinbase Prime rather than a single purchase, though Arkham said it cannot confirm whether they were direct buys, client subscriptions, or other inflows into an investment vehicle. Morgan Stanley expanded its crypto offering with Galaxy Digital in June.
IMF paper warns dollar stablecoins can speed currency runs An IMF working paper says dollar stablecoins can widen access to foreign currency in economies with fixed or tightly managed exchange rates when official dollar access is rationed, but they may also amplify exits from local currencies during severe stress. The paper found stablecoins can act as parallel FX benchmarks, and said regulators may need temporary limits on unusually large or panic-driven transactions.
Hedera rolls out v0.74 upgrade as Binance US adds HBAR staking Hedera deployed network upgrade v0.74, briefly halting exchange trading before services returned within hours, while Binance US launched HBAR staking and native USDC withdrawals. HBAR traded around $0.0702 after the updates, holding in a $0.0696-$0.0712 range on roughly $46-$48 million in volume as analysts tracked staking flows, token unlocks and RWA-related adoption for the next directional move.
Crypto startups disclosed nearly $255M in funding in early July Between July 1 and July 11, 11 crypto deals were tracked, with seven disclosed raises totaling nearly $255 million. The biggest rounds went to Gauntlet at $125 million and EDX Markets at $76 million, while SBI Holdings was the most active investor with two deals. No corporate placements were recorded in the period, and Paradigm separately announced a new $1.2 billion fourth fund.
Aave community backs Technical Asset Listing Framework Aave community feedback supports introducing a standardized Technical Asset Listing Framework to set a common technical baseline for new listings across chains and asset types. The proposal would separate technical eligibility from market risk while keeping coordination between technical reviewers, risk providers, and governance, with focus on continuous monitoring, oracle quality, bridge security, deployment-specific reviews, and privileged access controls.
Robinhood plans AI agent support for crypto trading Robinhood said on July 10 it will soon let eligible U.S. users connect external AI agents to its platform to automatically execute cryptocurrency trades. The tools are meant to help users build personalized strategies, manage assets and place trades within preset risk limits without constant account monitoring. Robinhood did not give a launch date.
Morgan Stanley files low-fee Ethereum and Solana ETF plans Morgan Stanley is lining up spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs with a 0.14% fee, direct token holdings, staking rewards and institutional custody as it pushes for market share in a more crowded crypto ETF market. The proposed funds, MSSE and MSOL, would trade on NYSE Arca, stake 50%-80% of ETH and up to 100% of SOL under normal conditions, and remain preliminary with no launch date yet.
Aave DAO approves Aave V3 deployment steps for zkSync Era Aave DAO approved steps to deploy Aave V3 on zkSync Era, extending the lending protocol to another ZK-rollup network. The move brings Aave’s borrowing and lending markets into a lower-cost scaling environment and adds to its multi-chain expansion, though the article notes initial pool parameters will determine how quickly meaningful liquidity builds.
Lighter to burn 15.5M LIT in first revenue-funded supply cut Lighter said it will carry out its first revenue-funded LIT burn, removing about 15.5 million tokens, or 6.3% of circulating supply, after repurchasing them with trading revenue through the end of Q2 2026. The move is the first under Lighter’s late-June tokenomics overhaul, which redirects buybacks into permanent burns, and the exchange said it will publish the Ethereum transaction hash once the burn settles on-chain.
Backpack opens 24/7 trading for tokenized U.S. stocks outside the US Backpack has launched 24/7 trading for international investors in tokenized U.S. equities, starting with SpaceX (SPCX), Micron Technology (MU) and SanDisk (SNDK). The company said buyers hold the actual securities, with each position backed 1:1 by shares held in U.S. custody, including rights to dividends and corporate actions. The Solana-based tokens can be funded with stablecoins or fiat and converted back into traditional securities.
Immunefi logs record 207 crypto hacks in H1 2026, losses at $972M Immunefi said 207 successful crypto attacks were recorded in H1 2026, the highest six-month total on record, but losses were about $972 million, less than half of H1 2025 and still below $1 billion. The data points to more frequent but less destructive hacks, with the median loss per incident falling from $6 million in 2022 to $1.5 million in 2025; smart contract exploits made up 125 of the 207 attacks.
Uniswap Labs proposes protocol fees for select Uniswap v4 pools Uniswap Labs on July 7 asked UNI holders to approve protocol fees for a subset of Uniswap v4 pools, extending the UNIfication fee rollout to the new pool architecture. The five-day Snapshot vote runs July 7-12, with two parallel onchain votes planned for the week of July 13 because GovernorBravo can handle only 10 actions per proposal. Fees would apply only to three v4 pool families, with proceeds continuing to fund UNI burns.
Empery Digital sells 1,400 BTC to fund AI infrastructure pivot Empery Digital sold 1,400 BTC at an average price of about $62,200, raising roughly $87.1 million as it shifts away from using Bitcoin NAV as its main success metric and toward AI computing and energy infrastructure. The cash will go to $10 million of near-term debt repayment, litigation costs tied to minority shareholders, and real estate for a previously announced data center acquisition; the company still holds 1,514 BTC and $73.9 million in cash against $45 million in debt.
Bitget rToken tops $100M in assets five weeks after launch Bitget said its tokenized equity product rToken has surpassed $100 million in assets just five weeks after its June 2 launch, with cumulative trading volume reaching $671.37 million. Demand was led by tokenized SpaceX exposure: rSPCX makes up 23.51% of rToken assets. The move comes as tokenized stocks hit a record $3.4 billion in June trading volume, up 279% month over month, per The Kobeissi Letter.
BNB Chain publishes Haber hard fork node specs BNB Chain has released node details for its Haber hard fork, with changes aimed at improving performance, transaction state validation, and finality. The update gives validators and infrastructure providers time to prepare, and marks another step in BNB Chain’s effort to keep developers and users active with faster, more competitive network infrastructure.
Toss tests KRW stablecoin pilot on Optimism’s OP Stack South Korean fintech app Toss, which has about 30 million registered users, is running a three-month proof of concept for a Korean won stablecoin on Optimism’s OP Stack with Sunnyside Labs. The test is designed to see whether a financial institution can handle settlement, KYC/AML and transaction privacy on a public blockchain at the same time; Optimism said it is a pilot, not a launch commitment.
Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal to step down at end of July Paul Grewal is leaving Coinbase after six years as chief legal officer, with the resignation taking effect on July 31 and a three-month advisory agreement keeping him tied to the company through October. Grewal led Coinbase through its IPO, its legal fight with the SEC and its move from Delaware to Texas; vice president of legal Molly Abraham will become general counsel.
LlamaRisk proposes Round 10 cap increase for Aave V4 LlamaRisk has recommended a targeted 10th round of Add Cap and Draw Cap changes for Aave V4 after deposits across its four hubs rose 9% in a week to about $262.2 million. The proposal would add roughly $29 million in Add Cap capacity, lifting the ceiling from about $588 million to $618 million, with Core taking $24 million as USDG and cbBTC on Core reached 89% and 87% utilization. The USDG credit line on Global Dollar Hub would also rise to $20 million from $15 million.
Solana advances SIMD-0097 fee proposal Solana governance has advanced SIMD-0097, a proposal to change how priority fees are handled and how validators are incentivized when users compete for blockspace. The update does not remake the network on its own, but it pushes fee design further into the center of Solana’s economic debate as the chain works on congestion, validator payouts, and transaction costs.
Law enforcement groups split as CLARITY Act heads toward Senate vote Support for the crypto market structure bill shifted this week as the Major County Sheriffs of America dropped its opposition and moved to neutral after talks over Section 604, while NOBLE became the first major law enforcement body to endorse it. The moves add momentum before a possible Senate floor vote ahead of the August recess, but four other law enforcement and attorneys groups warned the bill’s exemptions could create oversight gaps criminals may exploit.
US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs post first weekly inflows in 2 months US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $197.4 million and spot Ethereum ETFs added $84.42 million on July 6-10, snapping eight straight weeks of outflows in both segments, SoSoValue data shows. BlackRock’s IBIT led Bitcoin inflows with $291.89 million, while BlackRock’s ETHA and Fidelity’s FETH brought in $53.75 million and $37.48 million for Ethereum.
DOJ charges inmate Rossen Iossifov over $290,000 in forfeited crypto The U.S. Department of Justice charged Bulgarian national Rossen G. Iossifov, 53, with allegedly moving about $290,000 in cryptocurrency that had been forfeited to the government after his 2021 fraud conviction. Prosecutors say that in January 2024, while serving a 111-month sentence, he routed the assets through multiple exchanges and mixing services to prevent seizure; he now faces charges of removal of property to prevent seizure and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Singapore police and crypto exchanges stop $4.2M in potential scam losses The Singapore Police Force said a six-week operation with Coinbase, Coinhako, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX and Upbit identified more than 145 potential scam victims before they sent funds, preventing over $4.2 million in possible losses. Investigators used blockchain tools from Chainalysis and TRM Labs, then intervened by phone and in person with customer information provided by the exchanges.
Ripple gets full MiCA crypto license in Luxembourg Luxembourg’s financial regulator on July 6 upgraded Ripple to a full Crypto-Asset Service Provider license under the EU’s MiCA rules, letting it offer regulated custody, exchange and related crypto services across the EEA through passporting. Combined with Ripple’s earlier Luxembourg EMI authorization, the approval gives it a single European base for both fiat and crypto flows.
HKICL warns of fake FPS websites stealing user data Hong Kong Interbank Clearing Limited said it found multiple counterfeit websites posing as official FPS service providers and offering fake “Buyer Online Security Protection” to collect Hong Kong ID numbers, ID card photos, phone numbers, bank details and account names. The sites also promise cash rewards and route users into virtual wallet deposits or withdrawals; HKICL said they have no connection to its services and urged suspected victims to report cases to police.
Bonzo Lend loses about $9M in Hedera oracle exploit Bonzo Finance said an attacker borrowed roughly $9 million from its Bonzo Lend pool on Hedera on July 11 after manipulating a third-party SAUCE price oracle, while the protocol’s own contracts were not breached. The attacker used 250 SAUCE worth only a few dollars as collateral, inflated the oracle price by about 12 orders of magnitude, then borrowed about 6.6 million USDC and 34.5 million WHBAR; Bonzo Lend and its points program have been paused.
Armenian national pleads guilty in Ryuk ransomware case tied to $15M in BTC Karen Serobovich Vardanyan, 34, pleaded guilty on July 8 to conspiracy and computer fraud after U.S. prosecutors said a Ryuk ransomware operation he joined collected about 1,610 BTC, worth more than $15 million at the time, from U.S. victims between November 2019 and April 2020. Prosecutors said the attacks hit hundreds of servers and computers and forced victims to buy decryption keys; sentencing is set for Sept. 22, 2026.
EU Parliament advances digital euro to talks with member states The European Parliament voted to move the digital euro into the next legislative phase, clearing the way for negotiations with member states on a final proposal for the eurozone CBDC. The proposal includes free basic digital euro services, privacy safeguards and holding caps to protect bank liquidity, while lawmakers say the currency would complement, not replace, cash.
Injective says no funds were compromised in npm supply-chain attack Attackers slipped wallet-key-stealing code into version 1.20.21 of Injective’s @injectivelabs/sdk-ts and 17 linked official npm packages, exposing any private keys or seed phrases processed during a brief release window. Injective said the issue was fixed within an hour and “no funds were ever at risk,” while security firms urged developers to upgrade to 1.20.23 and rotate any secrets touched by the compromised packages.
EU says Meta’s Facebook and Instagram breach DSA over addictive design The European Commission issued a preliminary finding that Facebook and Instagram’s design for minors and vulnerable adults breaches the Digital Services Act, citing infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and personalized recommendations. If confirmed, Meta could face fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue and orders to switch off autoplay and infinite scroll by default and add screen breaks.
Florida man loses $251,300 in Wells Fargo impersonation scam Randall Kahn of Florida lost his entire life savings after a caller posing as a Wells Fargo fraud representative convinced him to withdraw cash from nine branches over seven days and hand it to a rideshare driver, NBC 6 South Florida reported. Kahn said the caller cited supposed irregular account activity and provided what appeared to be legitimate employee and incident numbers; Wells Fargo later denied reimbursement, saying proper policies were followed in authorizing the transactions.
Japan moves to legalize crypto ETFs under finance law Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Japan will amend the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to reclassify crypto as a financial product, paving the way for crypto ETFs through ordinary brokerage accounts. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and is now in the House of Councillors; if approved, the framework is expected in 2027, with crypto taxes cut from as high as 55% to a flat 20% from Jan. 1, 2028.
Ledger researchers reveal unpatchable Tangem card flaw Ledger’s Donjon team disclosed a hardware attack that can reset a Tangem wallet card’s password by hitting its secure element with a nanosecond laser pulse, bypassing a firmware recovery check. The attack was demonstrated on three cards and reported to Tangem on Feb. 10, but it requires physical possession, invasive prep, specialist skills and roughly $250,000 in lab equipment. Because cards already in circulation can’t receive firmware updates, the issue is unpatchable on existing devices.
MARA to acquire 1,200-acre Texas site with up to 2 GW of power MARA Holdings agreed to buy a 1,200-acre powered land site in Matagorda County, Texas, with access to an initial 1 GW of grid capacity by October 2027 and 2 GW by April 2028. The company plans to develop the site with Starwood Digital Ventures into a digital infrastructure campus for high-performance computing, flexible workloads and bitcoin mining, potentially lifting MARA’s portfolio capacity to about 4.8 GW once energized and assuming its Long Ridge deal closes.
