Decentralized cloud storage provider Storj Labs has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it plans to keep its network running while restructuring legacy liabilities and exploring an ownership pathway for STORJ tokenholders.

On Sunday, Storj said it filed the voluntary case in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. The company said ordinary operations and customer services would continue during the process, subject to court oversight, while its parent company, Inveniam, would continue to support the business.

The restructuring could become an unusual test of whether utility-token holders can participate in the ownership of a company emerging from bankruptcy.

In an open letter to its community, Storj said its liabilities largely predate its current strategy and are too substantial to resolve through business growth alone. It said the network continues to operate normally and its token’s utility is unchanged. 

STORJ showed no significant immediate price reaction following the announcement, trading around $0.072 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.

Storj explores equity pathway for tokenholders

Storj said management intends to propose a mechanism allowing tokenholders to participate in the reorganized company’s equity. 

However, Storj has not disclosed how tokenholder eligibility would be determined, whether participation would involve a token snapshot or lockup, or how much equity might be allocated. The company acknowledged that any plan must follow bankruptcy priorities and receive court approval.

Cointelegraph reached out to Storj for comment but did not receive a response before publication. 

Storj is among the crypto industry’s longest-running decentralized infrastructure projects. Storj began in 2014 as an open-source peer-to-peer cloud storage project that sought to let users rent storage from other network participants rather than rely on centralized providers.

Related: BitMEX hit with 623 BTC lawsuit on day it announces shutdown

Storj’s bankruptcy filing comes in the same month as at least two other crypto companies sought Chapter 11 protection.

Movement Labs filed under Subchapter V on July 15 after months of turmoil linked to its MOVE token, while Bitcoin mining pool Poolin filed on July 22 as it pursued a court-supervised sale of two Texas mining sites. 

BitMEX also announced in July that it would shut down after 11 years. Still, the derivatives exchange did not file for bankruptcy, instead opting for an orderly wind-down following a strategic review.

Magazine: CLARITY hopes fade, BitMEX shuts as lawsuit looms: Hodler’s Digest

With the August recess deadline closing in, U.S. lawmakers are still negotiating the Clarity Act—an ethics-focused proposal tied to digital asset activity that would also restrict officials from issuing or sponsoring crypto. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has signaled skepticism that there are enough votes for passage, but said a floor vote could still be pursued to “get Clarity started” and test support.

The bill is also at the center of a deeper political struggle over enforcement. Democrats want ethics rules to be enforced by state attorneys general, while the White House and Republicans have advanced an approach that hinges on the federal Attorney General—an official appointed by President Trump. The dispute, along with provisions that Democrats criticize as giving the President special leeway, is leaving the legislation in limbo even as industry and law enforcement groups begin to line up behind the latest version.

Key takeaways

• Clarity Act momentum depends less on technical drafting and more on whether lawmakers can reconcile a major enforcement disagreement and the scope of presidential exceptions.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune doubts the bill has the votes for passage, but may still move toward a vote to gauge support.
• Institutional backers—including Fidelity and Charles Schwab, and a statement of support from Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon—suggest the bill remains attractive to parts of traditional finance despite imperfections.
• Outside politics, crypto infrastructure news continues with BitMEX announcing it will shut down operations in September after 11 years, while S&P Dow Jones and Pantera launch an institutional digital asset benchmark index that excludes Bitcoin and XRP.

Clarity Act: ethics rules collide with enforcement politics

At the heart of the Clarity Act negotiations is a proposed ethics deal that would bar U.S. officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. However, the plan also includes exceptions Democrats say amount to a “get out of jail free” arrangement for the President. One sticking point raised in reporting is that certain rules would expire on the day President Trump is scheduled to leave office in 2029—an element that has been criticized as undermining the durability of the restrictions.

The enforcement mechanism is another major fault line. The ethics provisions would be administered by the Attorney General appointed by Trump, but Democrats have pushed for state attorneys general to enforce the rules instead. That expansion would create a broader enforcement footprint across jurisdictions—something Republicans and the White House appear unlikely to support, especially given the likelihood that the President would resist changes that empower many independent state-level prosecutors.

According to Cointelegraph, Senate Majority Leader John Thune does not believe the bill has enough votes to pass yet. Still, he indicated he may bring it to the floor to “get Clarity started” and determine where the remaining votes stand as the August recess deadline nears.

Support from institutions and law enforcement—while trust remains strained

While political factions remain divided, signals of support from outside government have started to build. The White House described the bill as the “most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history,” while Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego characterized it with unusually blunt language, calling it neither serious nor acceptable. Negotiations are reportedly continuing in an effort to find wording that both sides can accept.

Financial institutions have also weighed in. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon acknowledged the proposal is “not perfect,” but still supported it. Cointelegraph also reported that Fidelity and Charles Schwab have backed the initiative. Taken together, these endorsements suggest the bill’s advocates see it as a workable baseline for reducing perceived conflicts—particularly for firms that want clearer conduct expectations involving digital assets.

Law enforcement signals have been another ingredient. The National Fraternal Order of Police said the latest version of the BRCA—described as protecting developers of decentralized protocols—would not impede investigations into money laundering and fraud. That point matters for the bill’s political sell: proponents want ethics restrictions to target conflicts of interest without unintentionally constraining legitimate enforcement activity.

Still, the level of distrust between parties appears to be the dominant constraint. Negotiators may be able to close gaps on implementation details, but the bill’s most consequential disagreements—presidential exceptions and who can enforce the rules—go to the core of each side’s incentives.

What the odds say—and what to watch next

Market odds also reflect uncertainty. According to Polymarket, the odds of the Clarity Act passing this year are currently 38%. Even if a floor vote is scheduled, that number implies the bill could still face serious headwinds, particularly if negotiations fail to produce a package that enough senators can defend publicly.

Investors and market participants should watch for two developments in the near term: whether the enforcement framework shifts meaningfully toward a multi-enforcer model, and whether the presidential exception provisions remain intact or are narrowed. Those items likely determine whether additional lawmakers feel comfortable turning a political compromise into a concrete vote.

BitMEX to shut down, highlighting consolidation in derivatives trading

Elsewhere in crypto policy and markets, BitMEX—one of the early pioneers of crypto derivatives trading—announced it will shut down operations in September after 11 years. BitMEX launched in 2014 and gained notoriety for introducing 100x leverage perpetual swaps.

But in recent years, volumes fell as competition intensified, with major centralized exchanges such as Binance and fast-growing decentralized venues like Hyperliquid taking share. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said BitMEX’s share of the Bitcoin futures market has dropped to 0.08%, with about $84 million in daily trading volume.

Ju described the closure as an industry “torch” moment—an exchange that helped shape the market now stepping aside for the next wave it inspired. Cointelegraph also reported that BitMEX’s utility token, BMEX, fell sharply after the shutdown announcement. The same day, a class action lawsuit surfaced alleging that BitMEX fraudulently engineered liquidations to seize trader collateral. BitMEX denied the accusations and said it previously defended itself successfully against similar claims.

Analysts tied the shutdown to broader structural changes. Cointelegraph reported restructuring adviser Roshan Dharia saying BitMEX’s demise reflects accelerated consolidation. A quoted passage highlighted that the top five platforms control an estimated 80% of global spot volume, squeezing mid-tier operators as structural headwinds—rather than temporary cycles—reduce margins and limit scaling pathways.

That consolidation narrative continued quickly: Cointelegraph also reported that BitMart later announced it would close in the coming months, underscoring how pressure is spreading across crypto venues rather than concentrating on a single platform.

Institutional benchmarks expand: S&P and Pantera launch a crypto index

Index providers are also moving deeper into digital assets. S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital launched the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index, positioned as an institutional benchmark that tracks major crypto assets but excludes Bitcoin and XRP.

According to Cointelegraph, the index is designed to serve institutions by filtering blockchains based on minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization, and liquidity. The index launched with 18 constituents. Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX), and Hyperliquid (HYPE) make up the five largest holdings, while Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP remain the largest non-constituents.

The effort fits a broader industry push for institutional-grade benchmarks. Cointelegraph cited related products such as the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, a Franklin Crypto Index ETF, and a Coinbase Store of Value Index—signaling that tradfi-style benchmarking continues to shift from concept to increasingly concrete infrastructure.

Robinhood prediction markets grow as regulators focus on event contract specificity

On the U.S. consumer-facing side, Robinhood is reportedly discussing an expansion of its prediction markets business by integrating yes-or-no event contracts supplied by Crypto.com. Cointelegraph noted that Robinhood began prediction markets in March 2025, initially facilitated by Kalshi to satisfy compliance requirements from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

At the same time, regulatory scrutiny is intensifying around how event contracts are certified. Cointelegraph reported that the CFTC issued another warning that platforms must be more specific rather than relying on broad template-style certifications covering multiple potential variations of events. The regulatory push matters because it can constrain how quickly providers scale new contract templates or broaden the range of covered scenarios.

Cointelegraph also referenced legal commentary linking potential clarity on market structure oversight to the Clarity Act, framing the ethics legislation as possibly supportive of the CFTC’s ability to monitor prediction market growth.

Across governance, exchanges, and benchmarks, the throughline is clear: crypto is entering a phase where regulation, institutional infrastructure, and market structure pressures are reshaping outcomes. For the Clarity Act specifically, the next signals to monitor are whether negotiations produce a durable enforcement compromise and whether senators are willing to translate that compromise into votes before the August recess deadline.

Clarity may get a vote, but don’t get your hopes up yet

Despite wealthy memecoin entrepreneur Donald Trump agreeing to an ethics deal, the Clarity Act is floundering as the August recess deadline looms.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t believe the Act has the votes to pass just yet, but may bring it to a vote anyway to “get Clarity started. We’ll see where the votes are.”

The ethics deal would prohibit all US officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, but contains some “get out of jail free” provisions for the President that the Democrats are unhappy with, including the fact the rules expire the day he is scheduled to leave office in 2029.

The ethics provisions will also be enforced by the Attorney General that Trump appointed. The Democrats instead want state Attorney Generals to enforce it — but Trump seems unlikely to agree to empower dozens of state AGs to attempt to prosecute him.

The White House described the bill as the “most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history,” while Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego described it as a “piece of shit” and “not a serious effort.”

Negotiations are continuing to find a deal both sides can live with, but given the lack of trust, it’s not going to be easy to find a compromise.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon conceded the bill is “not perfect” but has supported it anyway, along with Fidelity and Charles Schwab who represent many trillions in assets under management each.

Law enforcement organizations have also begun to signal support, with The National Fraternal Order of Police representing hundreds of thousands of members, stating the latest version of the BRCA (which protects developers of decentralized protocols) would not impede investigations into money laundering and fraud.

The odds of the bill passing this year are at 38% on Polymarket.

BitMEX to shut down after 11 years as class action launched against it

BitMEX, one of the pioneers of cryptocurrency derivatives trading, announced it will shut down operations in September after 11 years.

BitMEX launched in 2014 and became known for introducing the 100x leverage perpetual swaps. 

In recent years volumes have tanked increased competition from major exchanges like Binance and decentralized protocols like Hyperliquid.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said BitMEX’s share of the Bitcoin futures market has fallen to just 0.08%, with roughly $84 million in daily trading volume.

“It was a great exchange that helped shape the industry, and now it is passing the torch to the next generation of exchanges it inspired,” Ju said.

BitMEX’s utility token BMEX collapsed in value after the announcement. That same day, news emerged of a class action lawsuit accusing the crypto derivatives platform of fraudulently engineering customer liquidations to seize traders’ collateral. BitMEX denied the allegations and said it had successfully defended itself against similar claims in the past.

Restructuring adviser Roshan Dharia told Cointelegraph the exchange’s demise shows the industry is consolidating.

The top five platforms now control an estimated 80% of global spot volume, leaving mid-tier and regional exchanges with shrinking margins and no viable path to scale… The headwinds are structural, not cyclical.

As if to undescore the point, BitMart subsequently announced it would also close in the coming months.

S&P launches blockchain fundamentals index for digital assets

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched a digital asset index that tracks the major crypto assets — but doesn’t include Bitcoin or XRP.

The S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index is designed to be the benchmark crypto index for institutions, but it screens out blockchains based on minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization and liquidity.

The index launched with 18 constituents, with Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) as its five largest holdings, while Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP (XRP) are the largest non-constituents.

The latest index follows a broader industry push to develop institutional-grade benchmarks for digital assets, with similar products including the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, the Franklin Crypto Index ETF and the the Coinbase Store of Value Index among others.

Robinhood to expand prediction markets as CFTC issues new warning

Robinhood is reportedly discussing plans to expand its existing prediction markets offerings with crypto exchange Crypto.com.

According the Wall Street Journal the talks involve integrating yes-or-no event contracts supplied by Crypto.com. Robinhood launched its prediction markets in March 2025, initially facilitated by Kalshi in order to comply with regulatory requirements from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Bernstein analysts last week raised its price target on Robinhood (HOOD) stock to $160 from $130 per share, based on the company’s outlook for prediction markets and tokenized equities.

Meanwhile the CFTC, which aims to become the primary regulator of prediction markets, issued a shot across the bow of providers last week, telling platforms they need to get a lot more specific about event contracts certifications.

The advisory addresses concerns about the practice of submitting broad, template-style certifications that combine many potential event contract variations into a single certification. 

Carl Kennedy, a partner at New York law firm Katten Muchin, also told a House Agriculture Committee hearing last week, that the CLARITY Act could help the CFTC’s efforts to oversee the “explosive growth of prediction markets.”

Balaji’s Network School turns to Kazakhstan amid Malaysia setback

Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School, a community of “digital nomads,” is eyeing a new campus in Kazakhstan after its Forest City campus had its business license in Malaysia revoked over alleged premises-use violations. 

A memorandum of understanding was signed between Kazakhstan’s relevant Minister Zhaslan Madiyev and Srinivasan to establish the first Network School campus in the country, which aims to become a digital hub. 

The School was forced out of Johor in Malaysia, following a controversy in Malaysia over allowing Israeli dual citizens to attend. The Muslim majority country has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Despite an investigation finding no visa violations, the Network School was ordered to shut down on another pretext.

Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi said the drama has validated Balaji’s Network State thesis.

“The whole idea of a network state is taking a dense group of talent and capital, and collectively negotiating with states. The Malaysia drama set up Balaji to negotiate better terms with another state to copy and paste the network there.“

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $65,395, Ether (ETH) is at $1,958, and XRP (XRP) is at $1.11. The total market cap is at $2.24 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Audiera (BEAT), which gained 53%, Shinba Inu (SHIB) with a 29% gain, and Venice Token (VVV), which increased 19%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are DeXe (DEXE), which lost 89%, Midnight (NIGHT), which fell 26%, and Pyth Network (PYTH), which dropped 10%.

Prediction of the Week

Bitcoin will get ‘lift’ from Hyperliquid, Robinhood in next crypto bull market

Bitcoin (BTC) is “finally showing signs of a bottom,” according to Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise.

Houghan predicts that TradFi integrations, particularly Hyperliquid and Robinhood, will drive the next crypto bull market, and the resulting tide should “lift” the largest cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether.

Houghan believes crypto is bringing major benefits like 24/7 trading to traditional markets, and noted that today “nearly half the volume on Hyperliquid is in conventional assets like oil, silver, and the S&P 500 [and] it’s expanding into spot commodities, prediction markets, and options,”

Bitwise data also suggests apparent demand for BTC is showing signs of reversal. The metric measures the difference between newly-mined BTC and the supply inactive for at least one year. 

Source: Matt Hougan

Top FUD of the Week

Home invasions became most common crypto wrench attack in H1 2026: CertiK

Home invasions became the most common form of crypto wrench attacks during the first half of 2026, rising to 20 publicly reported incidents from just one a year earlier, according to blockchain security firm CertiK. 

On Thursday, CertiK said it verified 52 wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, up 33.3% from 39 incidents during the same period in 2025. Kidnappings rose to 16 from 12, while robberies declined from five incidents to one. 

CertiK said the recorded financial exposure linked to the attacks reached about $124.1 million, up from $10.5 million a year earlier.

The increase in home invasions suggests criminals are increasingly bypassing digital safeguards by physically coercing crypto holders and their families.

Hackers steal $31.6M in 2 crypto bridge attacks within 7 hours

Hackers stole more than $31.6 million across two unrelated crypto bridge exploits spaced just hours apart, targeting bridges operated by decentralized perpetual exchange AFX and Verus Protocol. 

According to Blockaid, AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, reportedly lost $24.15 million on Wednesday through a hack targeting one of its cross-chain bridges. Hours later, Blockaid said it detected an exploit targeting the Verus Ethereum Bridge that resulted in about $7.5 million in crypto being stolen. 

“Another bridge, another exploit. Bridges will always be a weak link, until security is upgraded,” onchain investigator TheCrypticWolf said in a post on X. 

Ethereum ETFs close week in red, end 5-day inflow streak

US-listed spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) logged $70.62 million in net outflows on Friday, ending a five-day inflow streak.

Ethereum funds saw $211.25 million in net inflows over the previous five sessions from July 17, according to SoSoValue data. They still posted $103.9 million in net inflows for the week ended Friday.

Despite the outflows, Ethereum ETFs extended their weekly inflow streak to three straight and have attracted $337.74 million in net inflows so far in July.

The Bitcoin ETFs reversed gains made earlier in the week to end up with $33.9 million of inflows.

Top Magazine Stories of the Week

Both parties say they want US crypto market structure legislation, but a dispute over ethics rules and who enforces them is becoming the bill’s biggest obstacle.

A Bitcoin development roadmap that addresses quantum computing risks could see the price surge by “double digits” very quickly, according to Charles Edwards.

Are the fears of an AI driven hacking epidemic totally overblown, or is this just the lull before the storm?

POSCO International, South Korea’s largest trading company, has begun tokenizing trade receivables on blockchain in a test that could speed up commercial payments between its global subsidiaries.

The company, which generated $22.2 billion in revenue last year from businesses spanning steel, energy and battery materials, is working with LG CNS, the technology arm of LG Group, to issue, transfer and settle receivables on layer-1 blockchain Injective INJ$4.9980, the firms told CoinDesk in a press briefing.

The pilot is using receivables generated by real trade between POSCO’s overseas operations and their counterparties rather than simulated transactions.

Trade receivables represent money owed to a company after goods have been shipped but before payment is received. Today, those claims are typically tracked separately by buyers, sellers and banks, with reconciliation often taking days before cash can be released.

The companies said putting receivables on a shared blockchain ledger creates a single record that can be transferred and settled while carrying compliance rules with the asset itself.