After being stuck in a broad downtrend for the majority of the year, Bitcoin is beginning to show signs of recovery. The asset is currently trying to create support around the $65,000 mark after rising back above its 26-day EMA at $63,400. Although this is a positive development, Bitcoin still has a lot of overhead resistance. 

The most significant obstacle is located close to the 50-day EMA at $64,100, which Bitcoin has just lately recovered. The next significant objective is still the 100-day EMA, which is currently at about $68,500. The larger bearish structure that has dominated price action since late 2025 is still defined by the 200-day EMA, which is currently at $74,500. The steady rise in momentum is one sign that things are going well. 

Recovering to almost 57, the RSI is above the neutral zone and indicates that buyers are taking charge. The current advance follows a successful defense of the $58,000–$60,000 support area, in contrast to earlier relief rallies that swiftly faded. The move is not yet a complete reversal of the trend because volume is still moderate rather than explosive. 

The recent higher-low structure is changing into a more sustainable recovery, though, if Bitcoin is able to move toward the $68,000-$70,000 range. As of right now, it looks like Bitcoin is moving from a corrective phase into an accumulation stage. However, before bulls can seriously discuss a return toward the $75,000 region, there needs to be a break above the 100-day EMA. 

At the moment, Ethereum's technical features are superior to those of Bitcoin. While getting closer to the crucial 100-day EMA resistance at $1,944, ETH has effectively recovered both its 26-day and 50-day EMAs. Ethereum recently broke out of a slight ascending consolidation pattern, indicating fresh buying pressure, and is currently trading at about $1,920. 

This move is backed by increasing volume and improving momentum indicators, in contrast to the numerous unsuccessful rallies that were observed earlier this year. The RSI has risen to 66, which is close to overbought territory but still has room to rise. This implies that buyers continue to have a strong hold. 

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Ethereum's prospects would be greatly improved by a clear close above the 100-day EMA, which might pave the way for the 200-day EMA at $2,217. Additionally, the chart structure appears more robust than it did a few weeks ago. 

ETH set a higher low after the June capitulation event and has been gradually gaining ground. When this pattern is accompanied by improving market sentiment, it frequently precedes more significant trend reversals. $1,944 is the critical level to keep an eye on. 

A successful breakout above this barrier might spur more purchases and hasten Ethereum's comeback. However, failure would probably lead to consolidation between $1,750 and $1,950 before the market decides what to do next. With technical momentum clearly favoring bulls in the near term, Ethereum continues to be one of the market's stronger large-cap assets.

The fact that XRP is still having trouble beneath a thick cluster of moving averages shows how challenging the recovery process is. The asset is currently trading close to $1.12 and has once again failed to break above the 50-day and 26-day EMAs, which are presently at $1.15 and $1.14, respectively. 

A distinct descending resistance line that was created throughout July is visible on the chart. Every attempt to surpass it has been greeted by fresh selling pressure, which has kept XRP from gaining significant upward momentum. Although buyers have not yet shown enough strength to reclaim higher resistance zones, the token has stabilized above the psychological $1 level. The RSI, which has returned above 50, is one positive indication.

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This suggests that the market is becoming more balanced and that bearish momentum is diminishing. All significant trend indicators, such as the 200-day EMA around $1.46 and the 100-day EMA around $1.25, are still above XRP. The overall trend is still clearly bearish until those levels are contested. Additionally, volume has remained largely subdued. 

Large reversals usually call for increased buyer participation, which hasn't happened yet. Rather, following its June selloff, XRP seems to be stuck in a consolidation phase. Bulls' immediate goal is to break above the short-term moving averages. A move toward $1.25 becomes more probable if that happens. 

However, if resistance is not broken, there may be another test of support in the $1.00–$1.05 range. As of right now, XRP appears to be stabilizing rather than completely recovering. Although the market is no longer in a panic, it is still awaiting a catalyst that can stop the more significant decline. 

Zcash is still one of the market's best-performing assets, continuing its remarkable comeback and moving closer to $600. The cryptocurrency that prioritizes privacy is currently trading close to $578 following yet another strong breakout from a multi-week consolidation structure.

ZEC has effectively recovered all of the major moving averages, in contrast to many digital assets that are still stuck below important resistance levels. A strongly bullish market structure is confirmed by the fact that the 26-day, 50-day, 100-day, and even 200-day EMAs are currently below price. Momentum is still incredibly powerful. The RSI has risen above 66, indicating persistent buying pressure that has not yet reached extreme overheating. 

This implies that before traders start aggressively taking profits, the rally may still have room to continue. Because it invalidates the corrective structure that developed following the June volatility event, the most recent breakout above the $520-$540 range is especially significant. 

What could have been a deeper retracement turned into a continuation pattern as buyers repeatedly intervened around the moving-average cluster. Throughout the advance, volume has also stayed strong. The current move is backed by steady participation, which lends the trend more legitimacy than transient speculative spikes. 

The prior swing highs are located between $650 and $700, and the next significant resistance zone is located around $600. The market may move into a much more aggressive expansion phase if ZEC is able to pass those levels. 

As long as Zcash stays above the $500 support area, technical indicators continue to favor further upside, making it one of the most obvious bullish outliers among large- and mid-cap cryptocurrencies.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says he is no longer concerned about excessive leverage in the Bitcoin market. 

Earlier this Wednesday, he told CNBC that the cryptocurrency has become considerably more stable after speculative positions ended up being washed out. 

Fink stated that he "was always worried about the leverage in Bitcoin and crypto." 

According to the BlackRock chief, that dynamic has largely changed. "That's why we had to wash out," he added. "And I think there's more stability at these levels here."

Much of the interview focused on artificial intelligence rather than cryptocurrencies. Fink argued that demand for computing infrastructure continues to outpace supply and that the United States risks falling behind. 

Fink expressed strong optimism about financial markets over the coming year. He has argued that advances in artificial intelligence will continue driving corporate profitability. "I'm very bullish on the markets over the next 12 months," he said.

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Fink attributed that optimism to rapid technological innovation. "I think the technological revolution is going to power better margins for more companies."

He pointed to BlackRock itself as an example of how AI is already improving efficiency. "We've raised our margins... by 260 basis points over the last 12 months. A lot of it is using more and more technology."

Later in the interview, Fink explained how artificial intelligence is transforming the firm's internal operations. "We're able to use technology to process more trades, to process more activities," he said. 

For years, the BlackRock CEO was openly skeptical of cryptocurrencies. In 2017, he described Bitcoin as an "index of money laundering." He then changed his tune in 2023. Back then, BlackRock filed for what would become the industry's largest spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Around that time, Fink described Bitcoin as an "international asset" that could serve as a hedge against currency debasement. He has then argued that Bitcoin is "digital gold" and a portfolio diversifier. 

A screenshot has fueled speculation that the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has actually classified or listed XRP on its platform. 

However, researcher and XRPL validator Vet has made it clear that the viral claim is based on an AI-generated search response (not an official DTCC policy or documentation).

The confusion stems from a search performed on the DTCC Learning Center website. Searching for "XRP" returns an AI-generated summary titled "XRP Haircut and Classification," which states that XRP is "classified as a cryptocurrency" and describes hypothetical margin haircuts based on trading conditions.

However, the cited source does not actually mention XRP. "It does not mention XRP in that source, so the DTCC site, when you search in that category for XRP, it tries to map via AI," Vet added. 

The generated response includes a disclaimer stating that "Generated content may contain errors. Verify important information." 

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Vet attributed the behavior to the enterprise search software used by the DTCC website. "You know why the AI triggers to map it for XRP? Because they use an answer machine that is based on relevant searches," he said. 

According to his explanation, people in the XRP community all searched massively for XRP in the past weeks and days, prompting the AI to come up with an answer as many people searched for it.

The software generates AI responses when users repeatedly search for the same topic. "The more you search for something like XRP, the more it gets triggered to generate an answer with AI to not leave people hanging," Vet said. 

The shared screenshots show HTML elements referencing Coveo Generated Answer. This confirms DTCC's Coveo's AI-powered enterprise search technology is used for generating responses.

The confusion comes after the market infrastructure giant announced it had successfully processed live production trades using DTC-tokenized securities earlier this Wednesday. 

More than 30 financial institutions and digital asset companies, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq, Chainlink, Circle, Microsoft and the New York Stock Exchange, but Ripple is missing from the list.  

Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the US's main securities depository and clearing giant, officially launched the first practical testing phase of its new blockchain platform aimed at converting traditional stocks and government bonds into digital tokens.

Around 40 of the world's largest financial institutions and technology providers are participating in the large-scale trials, led by industry titans including Vanguard, JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange.

Our first live trades have taken place. Equity conversions, securities lending and equity delivery-versus-delivery settled on tokenized infrastructure designed for production use.Follow along as more trades go live: https://t.co/XDeUkl4aNJ pic.twitter.com/ugIw38uDyo

— DTCC (@The_DTCC) July 15, 2026

The essence of the experiment is that, instead of running simulations in an isolated sandbox, the companies are moving real assets held in custody at DTCC onto the blockchain. The resulting tokens function as fully fledged digital twins of traditional stocks and bonds, preserving all investor rights, corporate terms and dividend payments.

The pilot group selected the market's most liquid instruments to test the new digital infrastructure:

• Shares of technology giant Microsoft;
• Shares of fintech platform Circle Internet Group;
• The Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index;
• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, the leading fund tracking the broader US market;
• The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF, as well as US government bonds with different maturities.

During today's trading session, participants divided responsibilities to test core market mechanisms on the blockchain in detail. Citadel Securities, the largest US market maker, and API brokerage platform Alpaca carried out a direct conversion of traditional shares into tokenized positions.

Investment giant Vanguard and broker DriveWealth completed a Delivery-versus-Delivery transaction, directly and instantly exchanging one set of tokenized shares for other digital assets, a process that takes several days in the traditional financial system.

At the same time, BNP Paribas and Citadel Securities tested securities lending by locking tokenized assets as collateral against financial obligations directly on the blockchain.

JPMorgan tested the submission of on-chain instructions by tokenizing part of its holdings in the Invesco QQQ fund for interbank operations, while BlackRock tested the technology for round-the-clock liquidity management across its flagship funds.

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The current tests will continue until the end of the summer. The official commercial launch of DTCC's tokenization program is scheduled for October 2026. From that point, any financial institution will be able to convert its portfolios to blockchain-based form through standard infrastructure.

The next fundamental stage is planned for the first half of 2027. DTCC has already scheduled the platform's integration with public blockchains, including the Stellar network, which would directly connect the liquidity of institutional giants with the open crypto market.

The Volvo Group has been quietly exploring the benefits of decentralized ledgers. 

Ivan Branco, who leads information management, AI, and analytics for the Volvo Group’s logistics operations in Belgium, recently revealed that the car giant is currently in the process of developing a proprietary cryptocurrency designed for supplier transactions. 

For Volvo, the interest in blockchain is about solving tangible supply chain inefficiencies. 

Branco has noted that the company approaches these technologies from a perspective of business necessity. It is no longer about tech-first experimentation. "The way I see blockchain is when I look at all the technologies that we use within our architecture, we first focus on the business value. We focus on a specific business need, business requirements, really understanding, okay, how can we help the business through these solutions," Branco stated in a recent interview.

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He argues that the biggest barrier to adoption is a "false stigma" that links blockchain exclusively to cryptocurrency speculation. Volvo aims to move from a "silo-minded approach" to a "collaborative approach" where blockchain supports security and stability in managing complex information.

As mentioned above, the most notable revelation is the investigation into a proprietary digital currency. 

"We've done explorations also with certain transport suppliers to see if we could create, let's say, an enclosed environment using blockchain for the transactions in between material supplier, transport supplier, and ourselves with a proprietary cryptocurrency that we created for that specific purpose for that investigation or exploration to try and remove that complexity," Branco explained.

The goal was to create a unified system where the currency served as a facilitator. "You would use a single one, which would be the cryptocurrency, to facilitate the exchanges between suppliers and Volvo, and also you would have the ledgers where all of the information regarding the transportation orders would be kept. So that's an exploration that we have done because we truly believe that it can simplify the way in which we exchange information," Branco explained. 

Michael Saylor, the chairman of the world's largest Bitcoin treasury firm, Strategy, has decided to pause its regular Bitcoin purchases this week.

Unlike the previous week, Strategy failed to release any update on a new Bitcoin purchase for the week; rather, the company reportedly filed with the U.S. SEC to boost its cash reserves.

Over the years, Strategy has remained committed to aggressively scooping up Bitcoin to expand its holdings, usually every week after it raises new capital.

Although the crypto community has become familiar with this pattern, the company has surprised the market with a slight tweak in what it did with its capital this time.

Unlike the regular Bitcoin buy activity, Strategy has diverted its funds to boosting its cash reserves by a massive $450 million, a move that has raised eyebrows among investors who expected to see an expansion of its Bitcoin holdings instead.

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While the move has sparked discussions across the crypto community, it came after the company raised about $467 million through the sale of MSTR shares under its at-the-market (ATM) program during the week of July 6 to July 12.

Apparently, this means that the company's Bitcoin holdings still sit at around 844,000 BTC, worth about $53 billion, while its cash reserve has now been boosted to $3 billion.

The move from Saylor this week has triggered curiosity across the crypto ecosystem, with many questions left unanswered.

However, researchers have suggested that Saylor's growing obligations regarding his business could have caused the adjustment in its operations.

Reports confirm that the company has billions of dollars in preferred stock that require regular interest and dividend payments, with annual commitments estimated at around $1.76 billion. 

As such, it is highly likely that Strategy could more easily meet those obligations with a larger cash reserve. Consequently, the company will not need to sell more of its Bitcoin to meet those needs.

The latest US inflation report triggered a wave of forced short-position closures across the digital asset market, according to CoinGlass. The main beneficiary of the local short squeeze was XRP. Against the backdrop of a price impulse, the asset not only recorded a critical liquidation imbalance but also broke through key technical resistance levels on the 4-hour chart.

The catalyst for the large-scale repricing of risk was the release of data from the US Department of Labor. Producer price inflation for June delivered a surprise, falling into negative territory for the first time in months: the index declined by 0.3% month over month against a forecast of 0.0%, while the annual rate slowed to 5.5%.

Cooling wholesale prices eased concerns about tighter Federal Reserve policy, weakened the dollar, with the DXY falling to 100.562, and opened the door for capital to flow into cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin quickly consolidated above $65,244, while Ethereum climbed to $1,927.42.

XRP followed the market leaders, with its price staging a powerful technical breakout on the 4-hour timeframe. Even before the data release, the RSI indicator had formed a bullish divergence, signaling that sellers were becoming exhausted.

Immediately after the report was published, XRP broke above the $1.0964 and $1.1127 levels with a strong green candle, briefly consolidating at $1.1261. The move allowed the asset to rise above the long-term trendline that had constrained the chart since mid-May.

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The vertical surge caught retail traders who had opened leveraged short positions off guard. According to CoinGlass, forced liquidations over the past 24 hours were distributed as follows:

• Short-position liquidations: $2.56 million.
• Long-position liquidations: $593,260.

Bearish traders lost 4.31 times more than bulls, creating a liquidation imbalance of exactly 331%. The capitulation of sellers and the breakout from the multi-month downtrend have established a strong foundation for XRP. This technical threshold is now set to become a key support zone throughout the third quarter of 2026.

Japanese tech giant Rakuten Wallet has announced the creation of the first physical Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin of its kind. The project is the fifth release in the collectible "Real Coin" series and has already become an absolute hit in the company's internal tests thanks to its unique tactile surface.

The new product is preparing to enter a market where the brand's retail ecosystem reaches 44 million users.

The development comes amid a tectonic shift in legislation, as Japan's parliament passed a package of historic amendments that definitively moves cryptocurrencies out of the gray zone and into a strictly regulated investment league.

The physical SHIB coin is a metal souvenir with no technical connection to the blockchain. However, Rakuten approached its creation with distinctly Japanese perfectionism. Unlike previous releases in the series — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP — the Shiba Inu coin is the first to use sandblasting technology, known as a blast finish.

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The result is a premium matte texture and unique tactile properties that earned the souvenir 100% approval from the company's employees during internal office testing. The company now plans to bring this "tactile hit" to live presentations and offline events, using it in large-scale merchandise giveaway campaigns.

While marketers evaluate the aesthetics of the souvenirs, the company's lawyers are studying the new strict rules of the game. The amendments passed by parliament today bring crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. This means comprehensive oversight:

• Ban on insider trading: Any speculation based on leaked information, such as upcoming token listings, is now subject to criminal penalties.
• Transparency: Asset issuers must disclose information about themselves in the same way as traditional public companies.
• The end of illegal operators: Exchanges operating without registration risk massive fines and actual prison sentences.
• Foundation for ETFs: The law establishes the groundwork for spot crypto ETFs, although their launch will still require separate, specific regulatory approvals.

For Rakuten, SHIB has long outgrown its status as an ordinary internet joke. In the spring, the exchange added support for the token, directly connecting it to the corporation's massive ecosystem. 

Millions of Japanese users can now convert their loyalty points, known as Rakuten Points, into SHIB and spend them through the Rakuten Pay payment system at 5 million retail locations across the country.

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Against the backdrop of market legalization and preparations for the launch of crypto ETFs, competition for retail customers in Japan has intensified.

A unique coin and giveaways involving millions of units are a classic marketing strategy for capturing an audience. Rakuten is seeking to establish itself as the country's leading retail gateway before major investment funds are legally allowed to enter the market.

The BNB Foundation has announced the successful completion of the 36th quarterly BNB token burn by BNB Chain.

BNB Chain completed its 36th quarterly BNB token burn, sending 1,615,827.795 BNB to dead wallets worth $931,702,464 at the time of the burn. Following the burn, BNB's remaining total supply is now 133,166,127.91 BNB.

The 36th quarterly $BNB token burn has been completed directly on BNB Smart Chain (BSC).1.62M $BNB has been burned, worth approximately $932M USD 🔥View the details of the burn below 👇https://t.co/xPi3GL54r9 pic.twitter.com/DWgr212bEB

— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) July 15, 2026

BNB employs an auto-burn system to gradually reduce its total supply to 100,000,000 BNB, with the burn amount adjusted based on BNB's price and the number of blocks generated on BSC during a quarter. The BNB Auto-Burn provides an independently auditable, objective process and is independent of the Binance centralized exchange.

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Additionally, BNB implements a real-time burning mechanism based on gas fees. BSC validators determine the ratio of gas fees collected in each block, which is burned at a fixed rate. Since the introduction of BEP-95, 290,954 BNB has been burned under this mechanism.

This quarter's burn and future burns will occur directly on BSC due to the BNB Chain Fusion, with the corresponding BNB amount being sent to a "black hole" address.

BNB recently marked its ninth anniversary, having launched on July 14, 2017. Earlier in July, BNB Chain unveiled its tech roadmap for the second half of 2026, which doubles down on speed.

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In the first half of 2026, BSC slashed block intervals to 450 ms, brought in-memory finality down to 650 ms, and nearly doubled benchmark throughput to about 5,200 TPS. The objective for the second half of 2026 is to double mainnet throughput again, on a stated path toward a 10x improvement across BNB Chain.

Beyond its existing stack, BNB Chain is developing a next-generation L1 architecture built to support different use cases than the existing ones. BNB Chain plans to ship it on testnet by the end of 2026, with a mainnet release following in early 2027.

Binance's new campaign with an $800,000 prize pool in XRP tokens has attracted increased attention from holders of the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin. However, strict regulatory filters and technical requirements significantly narrow the pool of potential participants.

The first barrier is geographic eligibility. Binance restricted the list of participants, citing the European MiCA regulation covering unauthorized stablecoins and its internal compliance requirements.

Not only is full identity verification (KYC) required to participate, but the exchange has completely excluded residents of Canada, Japan, Iran, North Korea, and more. 

Most of Europe is also restricted, and residents of Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, and other countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) will not be able to participate in the XRP distribution.

For users in eligible countries, the exchange has introduced a two-stage qualification system:

• Balance threshold: holding at least 0.01 RLUSD in Earn, Margin, or Futures accounts.
• Trading activity: an average daily trading volume of at least $500 in the Margin or Futures section. Trades may involve any assets, but RLUSD must be used as collateral.

The technical structure of the distributions is designed to prevent attempts to artificially inflate balances or trading volumes. The system takes random hourly account snapshots, but the lowest recorded balance is used to calculate the daily reward. 

If the balance briefly falls to zero during the day, that day will not generate any rewards.

User A holds 10,000 RLUSD as collateral in Margin throughout week 1 and trades a total of $7,000 in qualifying trading volume in Margin throughout week 1. The effective base APR is 20%. User A's rewards to be received at the end of week 1 will be as follows:

• $7,000 / 7 = $1,000 > $500, qualifying for rewards
• (10,000 * 20% * 7) / 365 = 38.35 USD worth of XRP

Special attention is given to borrowed capital. If a user borrows third-party stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, U, USD1, or FDUSD through a margin account and converts them into RLUSD, a 60% haircut is applied to that amount. Direct loans denominated in RLUSD are completely excluded from the calculation.

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Ultimately, the campaign offers a classic trade-off — a variable weekly APR paid in XRP is offset by the need to keep liquidity on a centralized platform instead of in non-custodial wallets and to actively participate in trading.

Binance once again appears to confirm a simple truth: in the world of large airdrops, there are no truly free tokens, and every cent of a bonus must be paid for either with liquidity or trading activity.

In just ten days, Shiba Inu's exchange reserves have lost about 1.4 trillion SHIB, indicating a significant change in exchange-related activity. Recent on-chain data shows that total exchange reserves dropped to 86.48 trillion SHIB, following a pattern that has been emerging throughout July. 

Because fewer tokens are readily available for immediate sale, a drop in exchange reserves is frequently seen as a bullish signal. When investors take money out of trading platforms and put it in their private wallets, it usually indicates that they would rather hold than sell. The reduction is especially noteworthy in SHIB's case because of the size of the withdrawals and the current market conditions. 

The picture is not wholly optimistic, though. There has been a significant increase in exchange inflows, according to other exchange metrics. While overall inflows and outflows both increased, the seven-day average exchange inflow increased by more than 100%. 

This implies that even though reserves are generally decreasing, SHIB is still actively moving between exchanges and private wallets, giving traders a mixed signal. This uncertainty is reflected in the price chart. After losing a significant amount of its value over the past few months, SHIB is still stuck in a protracted downtrend and is currently trading close to $0.00000425. 

The asset is still trading below the 26-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs, among other significant moving averages. This alignment demonstrates that bears continue to dominate the overall market structure. Technical trends have also not shown promise. The chart's previous consolidation formations did not result in long-lasting breakouts, and more recent attempts at recovery were thwarted before they reached important resistance levels. 

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The 100-day EMA near $0.00000520 represents a more significant barrier that would need to be reclaimed in order to alter the medium-term outlook, while the 50-day EMA around $0.00000467 currently acts as the first significant barrier for bulls. Despite ongoing market pressure, SHIB has been able to stabilize above recent lows, which is encouraging. 

The RSI has recovered from oversold conditions, suggesting that aggressive selling has subsided, even though it is still below the neutral 50 level. Some investors may be preparing for a longer-term recovery, as evidenced by the removal of 1.4 trillion SHIB from exchanges. Even though supply dynamics are improving, the token is still trapped in a more general bearish structure until price action starts to validate that story through higher highs and reclaimed moving averages.

Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn presented fresh on-chain data showing that the two-year period of selling marathon by Bitcoin's oldest holders, dubbed the "Great Distribution", is over — in 2026, market veterans sharply reduced their activity, while the rate at which old wallets "woke up" fell by more than half compared with last year.

Galaxy Research's historical charts going back to 2016 show a clear cyclical pattern. Every time Bitcoin enters a major rally — whether in 2017, 2021, or during the 2024–2025 period — clusters of old coins become active. 

Investors who have held the asset for between one and ten years begin moving large amounts of cryptocurrency, often to sell. According to Thorn, the current distribution cycle reached its peak in late 2025, when the monthly volume of coins moved by just one cohort — Bitcoin aged between one and two years — surged to nearly 900,000 BTC.

However, this flow dried up in 2026. Veteran wallets entered a deep sleep, which suggests one thing — everyone who wanted to lock in profits at high prices during the two-year rally has already done so, and the local selling pressure from long-term holders has disappeared.

Within this context, Thorn also addressed the main behind-the-scenes concern that the media had linked to the actions of large holders — Bitcoin's vulnerability to quantum computers. There had been speculation that whales were selling their coins specifically because of technological risks.

we work with a lot of whales and none has mentioned quantum as a reason for sellinghave heard quantum fears as a reason not to buy from institutional investors, thoughbut work is being done on quantum and more work is coming, so i think those fears will assuage

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) July 15, 2026

Galaxy Digital said it works with a large pool of institutional investors, and not one of the selling whales cited the quantum threat as a reason for closing their positions. According to Thorn, the quantum factor currently works only in the opposite direction, as it scares some outside investors and prevents them from entering the market.

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Meanwhile, Bitcoin's developer community has already begun working on quantum-resistant network upgrades, which should fully address the issue in the future. At this stage, the market has finally been freed from selling pressure from its oldest holders and has entered a stabilization phase.

Leading asset management firm BlackRock has suspended its long-running Bitcoin selling streak as the Bitcoin ETF market appears to be regaining momentum, causing it to make bullish Bitcoin moves in recent days.

Following the recent price rally that pulled Bitcoin back to an upside trajectory, recent data from an onchain tracking platform shows that BlackRock has made a huge Bitcoin purchase.

The data reveals that BlackRock bought up to $138.9 million worth of Bitcoin on Wednesday, July 15, as demand for the leading cryptocurrency appears to be rising again.

The large Bitcoin purchase from the fund has come as the broader Bitcoin ETF market begins to see a wave of renewed interest from institutional investors after several weeks of extreme caution.

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While the broader Bitcoin ETFs recorded a combined $181 million in inflows during their latest trading session, the purchase made by BlackRock suggests that the fund still maintains its lead among the pack.

With this move, BlackRock has just made its first Bitcoin purchase of the week as investors expect more such transactions in the coming days amid renewed optimism for the Bitcoin-based investment product.

Over the previous months, XRP had continued to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum in ETF performance, recording a steady influx of fresh capital while the rest of the market continued to see consistent withdrawals.

However, it appears that Bitcoin has reclaimed its dominance as demand appears to have returned to the market and the Bitcoin ETFs begin to see a new capital injection, while trading activity across the XRP funds remains muted as they record zero net flows on most trading sessions in recent days.

Actor and outspoken crypto critic Ben McKenzie has taken his opposition to the digital asset industry directly to Capitol Hill. He is lobbying U.S. senators to vote against the CLARITY Act, one of the most significant cryptocurrency market structure bills currently before Congress.

According to journalist Eleanor Terrett, the former The O.C. star spent Tuesday meeting with lawmakers in Washington in an effort to persuade them to reject the legislation, which would establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States.

Best known for portraying Ryan Atwood in the hit 2000s television drama The O.C., McKenzie has emerged as one of Hollywood's most prominent critics of cryptocurrencies.

His interest in the industry began around 2020 after he became increasingly skeptical of celebrity endorsements and the rapid influx of money into digital assets. That research ultimately culminated in the documentary Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which examines crypto through interviews with industry critics, retail investors who suffered losses and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

While promoting the documentary earlier this year on The Daily Show, McKenzie argued that investors place too much faith in software rather than the people behind it.

Pointing to his interview with Bankman-Fried before the collapse of FTX, McKenzie added: "He instructed one of his employees to change a single line of code, which allowed him to borrow his customer's assets. So I can't think of a more vivid illustration of the intellectual fallacy that you can trust code."

McKenzie has also been highly critical of Bitcoin itself.

Although McKenzie has frequently criticized cryptocurrencies, he has insisted that his primary concern is consumer protection rather than banning digital assets outright.

His documentary focuses heavily on victims of failed crypto companies such as Celsius, arguing that speculative marketing has disproportionately targeted young men.

"We're barraging them with ads, telling them that not only should they engage in this, but if they don't... what are you, a pussy? Buy crypto," McKenzie said, paraphrasing Matt Damon's widely discussed Crypto.com advertisement.

McKenzie's activism has drawn criticism from prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry.

In April, Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty criticized the documentary, calling its portrayal of digital assets a "tired narrative."

Alderoty argued that the documentary paints the entire industry with too broad a brush, noting that "tens of millions of everyday Americans are already using this tool in practical ways, to diversify their income, run their businesses, and access new financial opportunities."

McKenzie's latest lobbying campaign comes as the CLARITY Act approaches a crucial stage in Congress, with lawmakers debating legislation that supporters say would provide long-awaited regulatory certainty for the crypto industry.

Below the surface, the XRP Ledger is displaying another concerning indication. The network's daily payment volume has decreased to just 312.8 million XRP, and only about 438,000 transactions have been processed overall. The sharp contraction indicates a persistent decline in one of the most significant indicators of actual network usage, even though neither figure represents an all-time low. 

Since payment activity reflects real account transfers rather than speculative trading, it has historically been a crucial indicator of the health of the XRP Ledger. Payment volume exceeded 1 billion XRP earlier this month, indicating increased network activity. Now that this momentum has vanished, activity has dropped by over 70% from recent highs. 

The market structure of XRP makes the decline even more worrisome. XRP is still stuck below all of the major moving averages on the price chart. The 26-day EMA, near $1.11, serves as immediate resistance for the asset, which is currently trading at about $1.10. The 50-day EMA is located at about $1.14 above that, and the 100-day and 200-day moving averages are still much higher at about $1.25 and $1.46, respectively. 

This positioning suggests that XRP is still in the midst of a well-established downward trend. The market hasn't yet produced a convincing bullish reversal pattern, and every attempt at recovery over the past few months has failed before reaching higher resistance zones. Volume dynamics also don't help. In contrast to the periods that previously drove significant XRP rallies, trading activity is still comparatively muted. 

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Although buyers have found it difficult to sustain momentum as the price gets closer to the short-term moving average cluster, the most recent recovery from the June lows created some optimism. The RSI is now close to 49, indicating that selling pressure has lessened after recovering from oversold territory. Nonetheless, the indicator does not yet signal a significant trend reversal and is still below bullish territory. 

Reclaiming the 50-day EMA and moving toward the $1.25 resistance zone is the obvious immediate task for XRP bulls. The XRP Ledger risks appearing more and more detached from the kind of adoption narrative that investors have been depending on for years in the absence of increased network activity and a significant recovery in payment flows. 

For the time being, XRP has little fundamental support as it tries to stabilize above the psychologically significant $1 level, because declining payment volume and weakening transactional activity indicate that the ledger's core usage is still under pressure.

Dog-themed cryptocurrency Shiba Inu has scored a new milestone, this time in the total number of burn transactions.  

According to Shibburn, Shiba Inu burn transactions have surpassed 21,000 in a new milestone. As given on the Shibburn website, total burn transactions are currently 21,169, yielding a total of 410,840,379,271,575 SHIB burned presently. This represents 41.08% of Shiba Inu's initial supply of 1 quadrillion, with the remaining supply given as 58.92%.

Shiba Inu's total supply is 589.15 trillion SHIB, while circulating supply is given as 585.61 trillion SHIB according to the Shibburn website. In the last 24 hours, 2.85 million SHIB were burned, adding to a total of 155.11 million burned in the last seven days and 259.39 million SHIB in the last 30 days.

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This milestone coincides with Shiba Inu surpassing 1.6 million holders; according to Etherscan data, the total number of SHIB holders is currently 1,676,819.

Shiba Inu is trading in the green following a broader crypto market rebound as the latest consumer price index print came in sharply lower than expected. The CPI fell 0.4% in June, bringing its year-on-year increase to 3.5%. That helped push expectations for a July rate hike by the Fed lower.

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At the time of writing, SHIB was up 3.1% in the last 24 hours to $0.00000424. Shiba Inu fell to a low of $0.000004 on Monday in a three-day drop, following which it rebounded.

The recovery continued into early Wednesday alongside the broader crypto market ahead of the latest producer price index print for June, due later in the session. Investors will look further for insight into the U.S. economic picture after consumer inflation data came in cooler than expected in the previous session.

The PPI is expected to have held steady in June, according to consensus forecasts, having risen by 1.1% the previous month.

The appearance of the XRP cryptocurrency logo on the uniforms of the University of Kansas sports teams, the Kansas Jayhawks, has sparked a fierce legal debate on social media. 

Amid calls to completely ban the promotion of digital assets among students, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz explained why any attempt to block such advertising would be impossible under the U.S. Constitution.

The United States has the First Amendment. If you want to restrict or can speech, you need to find some exception it fits into. I don't think there is one here. See the cases I cited including one involving liquor and one involving gambling.

— David 'JoelKatz' Schwartz (@JoelKatz) July 14, 2026

The dispute was triggered by the announcement of a historic partnership between the university's athletic department and Ripple. For Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, an alumnus of the university, the deal was a personal milestone. 

However, online critics reacted harshly to the integration, arguing that cryptocurrency advertising in sports should be banned alongside gambling, tobacco, and alcohol promotions.

Schwartz quickly countered this by pointing out that in the West, governments do not typically ban legal commerce ads on campuses, highlighting a critical legal distinction — if a product is lawful to sell, it is constitutionally lawful to promote.

Rather than engaging in the usual arguments about technology, David Schwartz responded by citing the U.S. Constitution. He noted that the First Amendment protects freedom of commercial speech.

"The government cannot suppress truthful commercial speech merely because it possesses greater powers to regulate things other than speech, nor to prevent the public from making bad, but lawful, decisions," Schwartz emphasized.

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To support his argument, he cited landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, including 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island, which concerned restrictions on alcohol advertising, and Greater New Orleans Broadcasting v. United States, which addressed casino advertising.

According to Schwartz's reasoning, if XRP is legal, any attempt to block its advertising without compelling constitutional grounds would amount to direct censorship. As long as XRP is officially recognized as a commodity, any effort to restrict its promotion could be viewed by the courts as a violation of freedom of speech.

A cryptocurrency trader stunned the market by making an incredible $2.85 million profit on the quickly expanding memecoin CASHCAT from just 1.6 ETH, which was worth about $3,000 at the time of purchase. In the early phases of the project, the trader purchased 16.3 million CASHCAT tokens for 1.6 ETH, according to on-chain data. 

These holdings saw a sharp increase in value over time as the token's market capitalization and popularity increased. In the end, the trader sold the entire position for 1,527 ETH, or roughly $2.855 million, earning an incredible 952x return. Although remarkable profits are not unusual in the memecoin market, the accuracy of the wallet's selling activity has garnered more attention than the profit's actual size. 

Another trader just cashed out $2.85M on $CASHCAT — a 952× return! 🤯He spent 1.6 $ETH($3K) to buy 16.3M $CASHCAT, then sold all 16.3M $CASHCAT for 1,527 $ETH($2.855M), locking in a profit of $2.85M.Wallet:0xae0F6a971FB3E7cc671AeF6e168c5c9788F72b92 pic.twitter.com/AGNHkiuxZn

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 15, 2026

Approximately 90% of the whale's sales during CASHCAT's explosive rally, according to a review of the transaction history, happened close to local tops. Sell markers frequently show up on the chart right before big pullbacks or consolidation periods, acting like an insider-trader. 

The suspicion intensifies when one considers the characteristics of memecoin markets. These assets frequently have very high volatility, which makes it challenging to consistently find the best times to sell them. During parabolic advances, even experienced traders typically sell too soon or leave significant profits on the table. That does not imply that there was insider activity. Due to their larger positions, early investors often have more leeway when it comes to scaling out during rallies. 

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Predetermined profit-taking strategies are frequently employed by successful traders, which can give the impression of perfect timing after the fact. Furthermore, seasoned on-chain players frequently identify shifts in holder distribution, momentum exhaustion, and liquidity conditions before the typical market participant. Even so, the wallet performs way too good. 

Even though a 952x return is extremely uncommon, it naturally raises concerns when combined with a string of sales that were made close to significant local highs. In the meantime, given its recent surge, CASHCAT itself continues to face pressure. Despite still having a market capitalization of more than $140 million, the token has dropped more than 15% in the past day. 

With over $30 million in daily volume and thousands of active traders speculating on the memecoin's future course, trading activity is still high. It is still impossible to determine from on-chain data alone whether the whale was merely an exceptionally talented trader or someone with privileged information. Nonetheless, the wallet has definitely emerged as one of the CASHCAT ecosystem's most closely monitored addresses.

A major partnership between Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings and the Solana Foundation has sparked debate within the XRP community. 

The concerns emerged after SBI Holdings announced a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation to build an on-chain financial market originating from Japan. 

As part of the initiative, SBI R3 Japan will be renamed SBI Solana Global, with the Solana Foundation joining the venture alongside existing shareholders SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG). The new entity plans to focus on stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), cross-border payments, institutional on-chain finance and AI-era payment infrastructure. 

The announcement prompted some XRP supporters to question what the move means for Ripple's relationship with SBI.

"What's up with XRP?" one X user wrote. Another asked, "Are you still supporting XRP and Ripple?" A third user commented, "Xrp was supposed to move higher because of SBI usage."

Others were more blunt. "Xrp army in disbelief after years of thinking Japan was going to use XRP," one post read.

XRPはどうしたの？

— ｴﾙｺﾝﾄﾞﾙﾊﾟｻ (@b5e3de2be09f401) July 14, 2026

The development has attracted attention because SBI has long been regarded as Ripple's closest strategic partner in Asia. The two companies formed SBI Ripple Asia in 2016 to promote Ripple's payment technology across the region. 

Over the years, SBI CEO Yoshitaka Kitao has repeatedly voiced support for Ripple and XRP, while SBI VC. SBI has also invested directly in Ripple and promoted XRP-based payment initiatives in Japan. 

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However, now the Japanese giant's attention seems to be focused on the rival stablecoin. 

Crypto lawyer Bill Morgan argued that XRP holders are overreacting. "The XRP community does not have to engage in cope about this news," Morgan wrote on X.

"Just accept that it is good news generally for crypto and specifically for Solana and XDC. It is not bad news for anyone."

Such sentiment has also been echoed by some other members of the XRP community.