Crypto World
The XRP ETF buyers stopped. What remains is the anatomy
Eight months ago the XRP ETFs launched faster than any product since Ethereum. The bid has since decayed 99%, from $200 million weeks to zero-flow days, leaving $1.49 billion invested, $997 million remaining, and a recovery thesis outsourced entirely to a Senate vote. Here is the full autopsy of a bid, and what its flatline actually prices.
Summary
- US spot XRP ETFs launched in November with $667 million in their first month, reaching $1 billion faster than any crypto product since Ethereum’s funds, on an eight-week inflow streak that ran even while Bitcoin funds bled.
- The bid then decayed by roughly 99%: weekly flows fell from above $200 million to low single-digit millions, the streak ended July 13, and July’s tape shows zero-flow days punctuated by one $7.29 million outflow, the largest since March.
- The wreckage is precise: $1.49 billion in cumulative inflows now marks against roughly $997 million in net assets, an unrealized deficit near $493 million, with 82% of assets concentrated in three funds and several products flatlined entirely.
- The one institutional trophy, Goldman Sachs’s $153.8 million position across four funds, is a December-dated 13F snapshot that Bloomberg analysts read as trading-desk facilitation, inside a complex that remains 84% retail-held.
- The flows have now stabilized at approximately nothing, which the optimistic read calls a floor, and the recovery case has converged on a single external event: the CLARITY Act vote whose odds trade near a coin flip this week.
There is a specific moment in the life of every investment product when its story stops being about demand and starts being about anatomy, and for the US spot XRP ETFs that moment can be dated: Monday, July 13, when the daily flow printed zero and an eight-week inflow streak, the product class’s last living narrative, quietly ended. What launched in November as the fastest-growing crypto fund complex since Ethereum’s, $667 million in month one, a billion dollars faster than anyone forecast, institutional validation in fund form, now trades as a case study. The buyers did not rotate, rebalance, or pause. They stopped: from weeks above $200 million to weeks near $2 million, from streak to zero-days, from launch euphoria to a July whose single best session, $6.78 million, amounts to one percent of the early pace. What remains is $1.49 billion of invested capital marking against $997 million of assets, three funds carrying 82% of everything, and a recovery thesis that no longer references the product at all, only a Senate vote. This piece is the full anatomy: how the bid died, what the wreckage precisely looks like, what the lone institutional trophy in the filings actually shows, and what the flatline, honestly read, prices for the asset underneath it.
The decay curve, dated
The complex’s eight months divide into three phases so distinct they could belong to different products.
Phase one, the launch bid, ran from November into the winter: $667 million in the first month across seven issuers, the fastest accumulation to $1 billion since Ethereum’s funds, weekly prints above $200 million, and the statistic the marketing decks will never retire, an inflow streak that persisted through weeks when Bitcoin ETFs bled, which was read at the time as evidence of a distinct, durable XRP allocator base. The reading had support: the products launched into the afterglow of the SEC’s surrender, the commodity classification, and the first wave of bank-desk research initiating coverage with conditional price targets in the double digits.
Phase two, the decay, occupied the spring: weekly flows stepped down from nine figures to eight to seven, May still collected over $100 million for the month, and by June the run-rate had thinned to low single-digit millions per week, a decline of roughly 99% from peak that no single event explains and one variable tracks perfectly, the token’s price, which fell from above $2.40 in January to the $1.10s, converting every earlier allocation into a loss and every allocator’s quarterly review into an uncomfortable meeting. Fund flows follow performance with a lag in both directions; the launch streak was the up-lag, and the decay was the down-lag arriving on schedule.
Phase three, the flatline, is July: six sessions of exactly zero flows in the month’s first half, a $7.29 million single-day outflow on July 9, the largest since March, the streak’s formal end on July 13, then a stretch from July 10 through July 20 of zeros and small positives, crowned by the month’s best day, $6.78 million on July 16, driven by two issuers’ desks. The freshest coverage frames the stabilization as survival, the product has not seen an outflow day since July 9, and the framing is technically true and proportionally absurd: the bid that defined the launch is not resting, it is absent, and its absence has become stable. That is what the anatomy shows. The interesting questions are in the tissue.
The wreckage, itemized
Four numbers, current as of this week’s data, describe the complex more honestly than any narrative.
$1.49 billion against $997 million. Cumulative net inflows since launch stand near $1.49 billion; total net assets stand near $997 million, roughly 1.45% of XRP’s market capitalization, with about 971 million XRP in custody. The gap, approximately $493 million, is the unrealized loss the allocator base collectively carries, the arithmetic consequence of buying a token averaging well above $1.50 that now trades near $1.10. Every future flow decision the complex’s holders make is made against that deficit, which is the single most important fact in any forecast of the flows resuming: the marginal buyer is being asked to average down into a product whose existing buyers are 33% underwater on invested capital.
82% in three funds. Bitwise holds $312.8 million in assets on $498.3 million of cumulative inflows; Canary $253.2 million on $467.0 million; Franklin $252.2 million on $415.6 million. Together, the top three hold roughly 82% of complex assets, which means the seven-fund complex is functionally a three-fund market with a long tail of products printing zeros. Category-level flow headlines obscure this: an inflow day increasingly means one or two distribution desks had a decent Thursday, and a diversified institutional bid, the launch thesis, would not produce this shape.
84% retail-held. The complex’s ownership base, per the issuer-side analysis that accompanied the spring’s institutional reporting, remains 84% retail, against 48.8% institutional participation in the comparable Solana products, a gap that quantifies how much of the launch narrative, the institutions are here, was distribution, not description. Which frames the trophy correctly.
The Goldman position, read properly. Goldman Sachs’s 13F disclosed $153.8 million across four XRP funds, roughly $40 million in Bitwise, $38.5 million in Franklin, $38 million in Grayscale, $36 million in 21Shares, making it the largest disclosed institutional holder, accounting for 73% of the top 30 institutions’ combined $211 million. The number did real narrative work all spring, and its caveats are the anatomy lesson: it is a December 31 snapshot, disclosed in March, of positions that may not exist today; Bloomberg’s analysts read the four-fund construction as consistent with trading-desk facilitation and client positioning instead of proprietary conviction; and as this publication’s own guide to how to read the Goldman position argues, the form is a rear-view mirror with a 45-day delay, structurally incapable of showing whether the bank held, added, or exited through the subsequent drawdown. The largest institutional XRP position on record is, read strictly, evidence that Goldman’s clients wanted exposure in December. The flows since are evidence of what everyone wanted after.
The geography of the remaining bid
One more layer of the anatomy deserves its own examination, because the aggregate US flow numbers conceal a compositional fact with real information in it: through the American flatline, the marginal bid for exchange-traded XRP exposure migrated abroad.
Through the spring decay, European venues carried a share of global XRP product flows out of proportion to their size, with Swiss and broader European ETP wrappers at times representing the substantial majority of weekly net inflows worldwide while the US complex printed its zeros. The absolute sums are modest, European crypto ETPs are an older, smaller, steadier market, but the composition matters for what it falsifies and what it suggests. It falsifies the strongest form of the exhaustion reading: if the asset’s entire allocator universe were fully purchased, the European bid would have flatlined alongside the American one, and it did not. And it suggests where the marginal buyer actually lives: in jurisdictions where the asset’s legal status was never contested, where MiCA-era frameworks settled classification questions years earlier, and where the products consequently trade as ordinary alternatives allocations, not as bets on a Senate calendar.
Read that way, the geographic split becomes the cleanest natural experiment available on the outsourced thesis. The American flows died in the jurisdiction where the asset’s status remains hostage to legislation; the European flows persisted, modestly, in jurisdictions where it does not. If legal permanence is truly the binding constraint on institutional allocation, the CLARITY experiment has already run abroad, and its result, steady but unspectacular demand, prices the upper bound of what passage realistically unlocks: not the JPMorgan-forecast flood, but a normalization to the European pattern, mid-single-digit millions weekly, compounding quietly, unheroically, forever. That is a real bull case, and it is a fraction of the one being marketed.
The alternative reading restores the American market’s exceptionalism: US wealth-management distribution is an order of magnitude deeper than Europe’s, the RIA channel that turned Bitcoin’s ETFs into a $52 billion complex has no European equivalent, and the launch month’s $667 million showed what that distribution can move when it has a story to sell. On this reading, Europe measures the floor of post-CLARITY demand and America’s launch month measured the ceiling, and the truth, as usual, books a room between them. Either way, the geographic ledger deserves a place in every flow analysis this complex receives, because it is the one dataset showing what XRP demand looks like when Washington is not the variable, and it has been quietly reporting that answer, in Swiss francs, all year.
The regulated-channel counterpoint
One dataset complicates the pure decay story, and honesty requires it: while the spot complex flatlined, the regulated derivatives channel set records.
CME’s XRP futures built to a peak of $1.4 billion in open interest with 29 large open-interest holders, a record for the venue, even as total XRP derivatives open interest across all venues collapsed from its $10 billion peak by margins reported between 75% and 96%, a deleveraging that wiped out the offshore, retail-levered complex. The split matters because the two channels answer different questions: aggregate open interest tracks speculative leverage, which is gone, while CME positioning tracks the institutions that clear through Chicago, which grew through the wreckage. The honest synthesis is narrower than either headline: the levered retail market deflated, a smaller regulated market matured, and neither flow bought spot tokens, which is why the ETF shelf and the price both starved while the derivatives venue celebrated. Institutional infrastructure and institutional demand are different things, a distinction this asset’s whole history keeps teaching. For the underlying distribution picture, crypto.news has also mapped the supply map under the products.
What the flatline prices
Strip the anatomy to its meaning and three readings compete, with the tape currently endorsing the bleakest.
The floor reading, the optimists’ case, holds that the shakeout is complete: outflows never cascaded, the post-July 9 tape shows zero net redemption, the deficit is carried rather than capitulated, and a stabilized base at $1 billion of assets is the platform a catalyst builds on. Its evidence is real, the complex genuinely did not unwind the way GBTC-era products did, and its weakness is that a floor with no bid above it is just a ledge.
The exhaustion reading holds that the launch consumed the entire natural buyer base: the crypto-native allocators, the RIA early adopters, and the bank desks servicing client curiosity all bought in the first two quarters, at prices 40% above the current market, and no second cohort exists at any price the first cohort’s losses will allow advisers to recommend. On this reading the flatline is not a floor but a completed distribution, and the zero-days are what a fully-sold product looks like.
And the outsourced reading, the one the complex’s own defenders now lead with, holds that the flows return when Washington acts: legal permanence unlocks the institutional allocation the launch never actually contained, the 84% retail share inverts, and the JPMorgan-style first-year forecasts the complex undershot get a second life under a market-structure law. This is the reading that matters, because it is the one being priced, and its honest form is uncomfortable: it concedes the product failed to generate durable demand on its own and converts the entire recovery case into a claim about one bill, whose cloture count stands unresolved this very week, whose passage odds trade near a coin flip, and whose own conditional structure, as this publication’s analysis of the conditional targets riding these flows showed, was already the load-bearing wall under every double-digit XRP forecast. The ETF complex, the price targets, and now the flow-recovery thesis have all converged on the same single point of failure. That is not diversification of catalysts. It is concentration, in a legislature, measured at 41% on Polymarket, and the flatline is what an asset looks like while it waits on it.
What to watch
The weekly prints against the zero line. The complex has proven it can avoid outflows; the open question is whether anything above $10 million a week ever returns without a legislative trigger. Sustained mid-eight-figure weeks would falsify the exhaustion reading on their own.
The concentration ratio. Watch whether the three-fund share of assets rises above 82%, consolidation continuing, or whether the tail products show life, the only clean signal of a broadening buyer base instead of two sales desks working.
The CLARITY binary, and the day after. Passage would run the outsourced thesis’s experiment in real time: the flows either arrive within weeks, validating everything, or they do not, which would be the most damaging data point in the asset’s institutional history, because it would exhaust the last explanation. Failure of the bill runs the mirror experiment on the deficit’s holders. That is the event the recovery thesis waits on.
The Q1 13F cycle’s ghosts. The May filings covering the drawdown quarter will show whether Goldman and the top-30 cohort held through the decline. A largely intact institutional roster supports the floor reading; a vanished one completes the anatomy.
Eight months ago the XRP ETFs were the proof that institutional demand existed. The anatomy shows what they actually proved: that distribution existed, that a launch window monetized it, and that demand, the durable kind that buys drawdowns, was never located. The complex now holds $997 million, a $493 million scar, and one hypothesis left to test, scheduled for a Senate floor that has not yet set the time. Products usually die of redemption. This one’s fate is stranger: fully built, fully priced, and waiting, with the rest of its asset class, for Washington to tell it whether the buyers were ever real. For context, crypto.news has explained he flow machinery itself.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to the XRP ETF inflows?
They decayed roughly 99% from launch. The products drew $667 million in their first month from November and sustained an eight-week inflow streak, but weekly flows fell from above $200 million to low single-digit millions by summer. The streak ended July 13, July logged six zero-flow sessions and a $7.29 million outflow day, and the month’s best session brought just $6.78 million.
How much money is in the funds now, and what is the loss?
Cumulative net inflows stand near $1.49 billion, while total net assets are roughly $997 million, about 1.45% of XRP’s market capitalization, with approximately 971 million XRP in custody. The gap of roughly $493 million represents unrealized losses on invested capital, reflecting purchases made at substantially higher token prices than the current $1.10 area.
Which funds dominate the complex?
Three of seven: Bitwise with $312.8 million in assets, Canary with $253.2 million, and Franklin with $252.2 million, together roughly 82% of all complex assets. The remaining products frequently print zero daily flows, meaning category-level inflow headlines usually reflect activity at one or two distribution desks, not broad-based demand.
Does Goldman Sachs’s position change the picture?
Less than headlines suggested. Goldman’s $153.8 million across four funds, disclosed in its Q4 2025 13F, made it the largest institutional holder, about 73% of the top 30 institutions’ combined exposure. But the filing is a December 31 snapshot published in March, Bloomberg analysts read the construction as trading-desk facilitation rather than directional conviction, and the complex overall remains 84% retail-held.
How does the CME futures record fit the story?
As a counterpoint about a different market. CME’s XRP futures reached a record $1.4 billion in open interest with 29 large holders even as total XRP derivatives open interest collapsed as much as 96% from its $10 billion peak. The regulated channel matured while offshore leverage deflated, but neither development bought spot tokens, which is why the ETF flows and the price starved simultaneously.
Is the recent stabilization a positive signal?
It is the debated question. Since the July 9 outflow, daily flows have been zero or slightly positive, no redemption cascade has occurred, and the deficit is being carried rather than capitulated, the floor reading. The skeptical reading calls the same tape exhaustion: the natural buyer base fully purchased during launch and no second cohort exists at current prices. The flatline is consistent with both until something moves.
Why does everything now depend on the CLARITY Act?
Because every other catalyst has been consumed. The SEC resolution, the launches, and the bank coverage all occurred, and the flows died anyway, leaving legal permanence as the last untested explanation for why institutional allocation has not arrived. The recovery thesis for the flows, the analyst price targets, and the asset’s broader institutional case have converged on the same legislative binary, currently priced near a coin flip.
What should investors watch next?
Weekly flows against the zero line, with sustained mid-eight-figure weeks as the falsifier of the exhaustion reading; the three-fund concentration ratio, for any sign of a broadening base; the Q1 13F filings covering the drawdown quarter, to see whether the institutional roster held; and the CLARITY vote itself, whose aftermath in either direction runs the decisive experiment on whether the buyers return. This is not investment advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Flow figures and asset values change daily and reflect data available at the time of writing. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset or fund. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 24, 2026.
Bitcoin’s quantum-computing threat is once again taking center stage among market watchers, with Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards arguing that developers could quickly relieve a major uncertainty if they publicly set out a practical roadmap for quantum-resistant upgrades.
In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Trade Secrets, Edwards said a clear timeline from the Bitcoin Core team—detailing rough steps and target milestones within “two or three months” and follow-through over the subsequent years—would likely be treated by markets as meaningful de-risking rather than distant theory.
Key takeaways
- Charles Edwards says Bitcoin’s response would likely be swift if developers publish a concrete quantum-hardening roadmap soon.
- He argues that the quantum risk is currently suppressing prices and is “more than priced in,” based on his own valuation framework.
- Edwards estimates the threat’s impact as part of a larger discount, while stressing that today’s pricing may change if timelines shift.
- He points to expert industry timelines for “Q Day” (the point quantum systems could reverse-engineer private keys) as underpinning his assumptions.
Why quantum risk remains a market-moving uncertainty
Edwards’ core concern is that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually undermine the cryptographic assumptions that secure the Bitcoin network, potentially affecting how wallets protect private keys.
Within the broader Bitcoin community, the question of whether and how to modify Bitcoin to address quantum threats has become contentious. Some argue that major protocol changes could conflict with Bitcoin’s long-standing ethos of minimal, conservative alterations. Others believe quantum computers may be too far away to justify urgent changes—and warn that rushed “cures” could introduce new risks.
Edwards says the uncertainty has already affected investor sentiment. He also noted that large institutional participants have acknowledged long-term quantum risk. According to remarks referenced in the interview, BlackRock has pointed to quantum computing as a potential risk factor in materials for spot Bitcoin ETF investors.
A roadmap, not just debate, could change how markets price the threat
Edwards’ most direct claim is about timing and market psychology: he believes a credible and transparent development plan would be interpreted as a fast-moving improvement in Bitcoin’s risk profile.
He specifically described what he would consider “amazing news” for markets: if the Bitcoin Core team were to outline a roadmap within a couple of months, including rough steps and a multi-year delivery plan, then investors could re-rate the probability of worst-case scenarios.
Edwards added that such clarity could “discount a lot of the risk pretty much overnight,” and he even floated a price-response expectation of “double digits” in that scenario. For him, the quantum question is “on the back burner” and, to date, the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) addressing the issue are “not really” a genuine solution.
That framing matters because it positions the quantum debate not only as a technical challenge, but as a communications and execution problem. In Edwards’ view, markets have been discounting risk without a concrete mitigation pathway visible to the public—so the moment that pathway becomes legible, repricing could follow.
How Edwards’ valuation links quantum timelines to “Q Day”
Edwards also offered a quantitative perspective on how he sees Bitcoin priced relative to his notion of “fair value.” He estimated that Bitcoin is currently around 40% below fair value when measured against energy value, and he attributed roughly a 30% discount specifically to quantum risk. On that basis, he argued the risk is “more than priced in.”
He stressed that his conclusion is conditional on information available today, rather than unknown future developments. If quantum timelines accelerate or new information shifts expectations about the arrival of “Q Day,” the discount could widen; if mitigation becomes clearer, it could narrow.
In the interview, Edwards said his model is based on timelines discussed by leading quantum computing companies and researchers for when quantum systems could reach the point where attackers might reverse-engineer private keys from public keys. He suggested that this window sits in the “four to five year range, give or take, a few years.”
He further argued that even after the threat window arrives, Bitcoin would still need time to design and implement an effective solution. Edwards pointed to BIP-360 author Ethan Heilman’s view that the development and rollout of a fix could take years.
“If we’re gonna get into maths, it’s pretty simple; it is just an aggregation of those expert opinions. So it’s based on that, and based on the fact that there’s currently no solution for Bitcoin.”
Edwards said the key asymmetry is that while investors have already priced in the quantum risk “today,” the situation could still deteriorate—or improve—depending on whether there is a credible mitigation plan and how external quantum roadmaps evolve.
He also described the resulting distribution of outcomes as “skewed more probabilistically to the upside” from the current level, precisely because a mitigation roadmap would reduce uncertainty that is currently weighing on sentiment.
What other chains’ progress means for Bitcoin
The interview also tied Bitcoin’s preparation to broader sector momentum. Edwards cited that Ethereum is scheduled to complete its post-quantum overhaul by 2029, which he said could bring renewed attention to whether Bitcoin has done enough by then.
For investors, the practical takeaway is not that Bitcoin must copy another network’s approach, but that other ecosystems’ timelines can shift market expectations. When one major platform moves toward quantum-resistance on a defined schedule, it can raise the question of whether Bitcoin is lagging—or simply taking a different engineering path.
As of the time Edwards discussed these claims in the interview, Bitcoin was trading around $65,270, and he compared that to its October all-time highs of about $126,100—underscoring how much of the asset’s prior peak remains unrecovered.
Going forward, the market will likely watch two things closely: whether Bitcoin Core and related development groups publish a concrete, milestone-based plan for quantum-hardening, and whether external quantum roadmaps shift expectations about when “Q Day” could realistically arrive. Until then, Edwards’ argument suggests Bitcoin may continue to carry a quantifiable discount tied to uncertainty—even as the debate over how to preserve Bitcoin’s ethos continues.
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Poised to become the world’s most prominent “real humans’ network”, the project previously known as Worldcoin aims to establish an identity layer to distinguish unique individuals from automated bots. The protocol relies on custom hardware, known as an Orb, to issue credentials without compromising user privacy.
“World’s technology and proof of human and variations are among the most important building blocks to secure and verify interactions in an increasingly digital driven world,” said Tom Lee, an Eightco Holdings board member who also serves as the chairman of Bitmine, in a statement.
World said the investment comes as it shifts from building the network to scaling the utility.
To date, more than 39 million people have joined the World Network, with more than 18 million humans verified by an Orb, World said in the funding announcement press release. The network has utilized more than 475 million World ID proofs since its launch, scaling its capacity alongside the rollout of its updated, enterprise-ready infrastructure, it added.
World, the Sam Altman-backed digital identity project, unveiled in April what it called its most significant upgrade yet to World ID, positioning the system as “full-stack proof of human” infrastructure aimed at consumers, enterprises and AI agents.
Jensen Huang just made his first-ever post on X (Twitter). The Nvidia chief used it to defend open models and warn Washington against locking them down.
He means open-weight artificial intelligence (AI), not the similarly named company OpenAI. These are models that anyone can download and reuse for free.
Why Nvidia is Fighting for Open Models
Huang shared the letter on Friday. Microsoft, Meta, and Hugging Face are among its 25 signers.
The group calls open models key to American AI leadership. They compare them to open-source software, which now powers much of the internet.
The timing stands out. About a year ago, the government backed open models in its own AI Action Plan. It even called them a strategic asset for the country.
Officials are now weighing curbs on Kimi K3 and other Chinese models. Kimi K3 launched on July 16 from China’s Moonshot AI. With 2.8 trillion parameters, it ranks among the best anywhere, open or closed.
The worry is not new. In January 2025, a cheap model from China’s DeepSeek sent shockwaves through Nvidia. The chip giant lost nearly $600 billion in a day. That was a record at the time.
The Safety Case for Openness
The letter also makes a safety case. Open models let many teams check the code. They can spot flaws and fix them fast. Closed models sit with a few firms, which the group calls a weak point.
The letter draws one more line. It separates distillation from theft. Distillation trains one model using another’s output. The group calls that normal research, not stealing.
This fight is live. White House adviser Michael Kratsios says Moonshot copied a US model to build Kimi K3.
Two big names are missing. OpenAI and Anthropic did not sign. They have instead warned Washington that strong Chinese open models are risky.
So the field is split over how open AI should be. Chinese models, meanwhile, already outpace US rivals in daily use.
“Policymakers have an important opportunity to act… keeping the frontier plural by avoiding premature restrictions on open models that stifle competition or drive innovation overseas,” the signatories make that case in their letter.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
The next few weeks will show if Washington listens.
The post Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Makes Open AI Plea in First-Ever X (Twitter) Post appeared first on BeInCrypto.
This negotiation over the government conflict-of-interest piece had delayed progress on the Clarity Act for months — now potentially beyond the window in which it could most easily become law in 2026. This week’s release of the final working draft of Clarity included the first ethics language openly circulated, so Democrats are now responding — many of them with disdain.
“Donald Trump raked in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, and this bill does nothing to prevent him from vacuuming up his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is her party’s ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, referring to the crypto earnings Trump disclosed for 2025. She said the president will “simply ignore the law” as it’s proposed.
So what does the language do? It temporarily bans senior government officials (including the president, vice president, members of Congress and federal judges) from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies.
However, it excuses activity in the past, and there are plenty of crypto business pursuits that don’t check the boxes of issuance or sponsorship, so it’s unlikely Trump would be forced to abandon some of his most prominent ties, such as his ownership stake in World Liberty Financial. He might have to create some legal distance for himself, such as placing certain investments in trusts that he can’t access directly.
Samsung Electronics plans to add stablecoin support to Samsung Wallet, expanding its mobile payments and rewards platform to include digital assets.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 1.6% on Friday as its latest price correction accelerated after Wall Street opened.
Key points:
- Bitcoin price downside pressure mounts on the back of multiple macro headwinds.
- US bond yields further a hawkish pivot in Fed interest-rate expectations.
- BTC price analysis sees a Binance “plunge protection team” attempting to shore up the market.
Analysis warns US bond yields now “well above” target
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD approaching $64,000 as bulls struggled to preserve recent gains.
BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic headwinds weighed on crypto markets as appetite for risk assets faded.
Trading firm Mosaic Asset Company said rising US Treasury yields were a key driver of the sell-off.
“Massive moves are underway across the yield curve despite a weaker than expected consumer inflation report,” it wrote, referring to the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.
Mosaic said the two-year yield was particularly prone to influence the outlook on Federal Reserve interest-rate changes, with risk assets suffering as a result of additional hikes.
“The 2-year yield that tends to lead fed funds is now at 4.31% and sits well above the Federal Reserve’s target range,” it continued.
US two-year Treasury yield one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed that markets still expected the Fed to leave rates unchanged next week, while pricing in a 0.25% hike in September as one of two increases expected before the end of 2026.
Mosaic added that those expectations were “placing downward pressure on stock indexes.”
Fed target-rate probability comparison for September FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group
Bitcoin price “plunge protection team” returns
In ongoing market monitoring, crypto trader Killa said BTC was repeating a familiar short-term trading pattern.
Related: BTC supply in profit eyes 60%, but analysis hints recovery may ‘roll back over’
“Textbook setup on $BTC. Seen this occur numerous times,” they said on X, repeating a post from early June in which they identified a “plunge protection team” active on the largest crypto exchange Binance.
A chart accompanying the post showed layers of bid liquidity below the spot price, with its owners potentially not planning for the positions to be filled.
BTC/USDT chart with order-book liquidity data. Source: Killa on X.com
Analytics account Wealthmanager focused on $64,000, warning that a break below that level would “invalidate” the low-timeframe market structure.
Trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, doubled down on the theory that BTC/USD was repeating behavior from its 2022 bear market, rejecting from the 50-month exponential moving average (EMA) at $65,950.
“Bitcoin hasn’t really offered any evidence to the contrary. Still following 2022 historical tendencies,” he summarized.
BTC/USD one-month chart with 21, 50EMA. Source: Rekt Capital on X.com
Crypto influencer and party animal Ansem has been banned from Uber after failing to heed its warnings and improve his 4.2 rating.
Ansem — real name Zion Thomas — shared Uber’s ban on X yesterday. The car-for-hire firm said that due to Ansem’s low rating, “we’ve had to remove access to your Uber account.”
Uber also claimed that his score hadn’t improved since a prior notification, implying that he’d already been warned.
He didn’t provide an explanation at first, which left many on X desperate to know exactly what kind of a passenger he is.
One user guessed that he kept making the drivers wait while his girls get ready. Ansem’s response was, “It’s really not my fault.”
He eventually explained in a little more detail about the reasons for the ban on his Market Bubble podcast.
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He described what he called “an accumulation of just bad habits,” and said that he’s “always late.”
He added, “Every time I’ll call Uber, and we’re going out, we’re loud as fuck in the Uber. I got hella people with me, I got people screaming in the back seat, all this shit happening.”
As for his lateness, he said, “You know how it is when you’re leaving the fucking club or like getting ready to go to the club, everybody’s still getting ready and shit… people are drinking inside and trying to find their friends and everything.”
Ansem broke Uber’s guidelines
Uber has its own community guidelines that apply to everyone using the app that can affect whether or not the company decides to suspend a driver, or in Ansem’s case, a passenger.
For instance, you’re not allowed to bring in any open containers of alcohol or illegal drugs into an Uber. There are also several guidelines that emphasise respecting one another and not being rude.
Uber says, “Aggressive, confrontational, or harassing behavior is not allowed. Don’t use language, make gestures, or take action that could be disrespectful, threatening, or inappropriate.”
Other guidelines involve sticking to the law. Various forms of fraud are forbidden within an Uber, you must wear your seatbelts, and you can’t be bringing any firearms inside.
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It’s not entirely clear what rating will get you banned as a rider. In 2019, it was reported that drivers were required to maintain a 4.6 average rating across their most recent 100 trips in order to keep using the app. Their overall rating, however, is averaged using their most recent 500 trips.
Uber has said that it will give riders with a below-average rating several opportunities to improve their score.
Unfortunately for Ansem, his repeated dillydallying and tendency to bring smashed passengers along for the ride appear to have cost him.
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In Bitcoin news today, police in Malaysia dismantled a Bitcoin mining syndicate following four raids on July 22 and 23 by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) across four rented premises.
Authorities arrested three local men and seized 71 cryptocurrency mining rigs in an operation that generated an estimated RM80,000 to RM100,000 (~$25,000) in monthly profits.
The bust, codenamed Ops Letrik, exposes the persistent economics of illegal mining in Johor, Malaysia: electricity theft converts what would be an unprofitable operation into a high-margin one, with TNB absorbing the cost.
This story dropped as Bitcoin USD fell -0.4% over the past 24 hours, slipping to $65,300 after losing the $66,000 level yesterday. As of right now, support at $65,000 is holding steady.
Bitcoin News: How the Johor Syndicate Operated
The operation was carried out by the Johor Contingent Police Headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department (D4) in collaboration with TNB’s Southern Region SEAL team.
Raids hit three residential homes and one shophouse in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru Utara, and Kulai – each rented at RM5,000 to RM6,000 per month, with the rental arrangements still under active investigation.
The syndicate’s method was direct tapping: bypassing legitimate TNB meters with hardwired connections allowing their Bitcoin mining operations to run without paying bills.
Over roughly one month of operation before police moved in, that power theft inflicted RM67,502.30 in losses on TNB. The profit margin is self-evident – the syndicate was clearing multiples of its RM67,000 electricity liability in monthly Bitcoin revenue while paying it nothing.
Items seized included 71 cryptocurrency mining machines, two computers, two laptops, five routers, two monitors, two keyboards, one mobile phone, and two vehicles.
Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad said one suspect acted as the manager across all four premises, while the other two were external technicians responsible for wiring and machine installation.
Ab Rahaman said initial investigations found the syndicate was capable of generating profits of between RM80,000 and RM100,000 per month, while the suspects are believed to have been paid around RM5,000 a month.
All three suspects, aged 26 to 46, were remanded until July 26. Police said they are actively tracking additional individuals linked to the network.
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Legal Exposure and Johor’s Enforcement Record
The case is being investigated under two statutes: Section 427 of the Penal Code for criminal mischief, which carries a jail term of between one and five years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction. and Section 37(1) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 for interfering with electrical installations, which carries a fine not exceeding RM100,000, up to five years’ imprisonment, or both.
Combined exposure is meaningful but not prohibitive given the profit scale, which is precisely why the Malaysian crackdown has escalated enforcement frequency rather than relying solely on statutory deterrence.
Between January 2025 and June 2026, the Johor Contingent Police raided 16 premises linked to illegal cryptocurrency mining, seizing 158 machines in total and incurring TNB losses of nearly RM1 million.
The July 22–23 operation involved 71 mining machines and resulted in TNB utility losses estimated at RM67,502.30 – smaller in rig count than some prior busts but operationally similar in structure.
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Malaysia’s Broader Power Theft Problem
In wider Bitcoin news, the Johor raid is one node in a sustained national enforcement campaign. The scale separates Malaysia’s problem from most jurisdictions: this is not marginal grid abuse but a structured shadow industry operating at the expense of a state utility.
The arithmetic that drives these operations is straightforward. Legitimate Bitcoin mining in Malaysia requires paying commercial electricity rates against a fixed BTC price outcome, margins that compress quickly when the network difficulty rises.
Stealing power eliminates the primary variable cost, transforming marginal or loss-making operations into profitable ones regardless of market conditions. That dynamic explains why enforcement has not eliminated the practice despite years of raids, seizures, and prosecutions.
The contrast with above-board Bitcoin operations is stark. Where legitimate Bitcoin businesses manage treasury exposure and operational costs transparently, syndicates like the Johor network externalize their highest cost onto the public grid.
Johor police said they continue to track additional suspects connected to this syndicate, suggesting the network extends beyond the three men currently in custody.
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The post Bitcoin News: Johor Syndicate Cleared $25,000 Monthly by Stealing Power appeared first on Cryptonews.
Crypto World
Bitcoin Rejected at $67K, Strategy Stays on Hold, BitMEX Shuts Down: Weekly Crypto Recap
The previous business week ended with a leg down that drove the primary cryptocurrency to $62,500. However, it reacted swiftly and recovered to $64,000 during the weekend.
The gradual climb continued on Sunday and Monday morning when BTC peaked at $65,000, but it was rejected and slipped south by over a grand to $63,750. The next leg up was a lot more impressive. Bitcoin didn’t stop at $65,000, and even the $66,000 resistance fell on the first attempt. Thus, the asset’s rally extended for a bit more, reaching $67,000 (on some exchanges) for the first time since the middle of June.
It came on the heels of renewed ETF net inflows and new accumulations from certain large investors. However, the price run couldn’t be sustained for long, and BTC quickly dipped back down to $66,000 on Wednesday, $65,000 on Thursday, and it plunged to $64,000 earlier today.
Despite its $3,000 correction from the local top, bitcoin remains about 2% up on the week. Similar gains are evident from Ethereum, which challenged $1,950 at one point, and TRX, which remains at around $0.33. Even more impressive price performance comes from XMR; a 9% pump has driven the privacy token to over $350. UNI and HBAR have posted notable gains as well, while HYPE, ZEC, CC, and DOGE remain in the red on a weekly scale.
Bitcoin’s market dominance has also dwindled in the past few days. It exploded to over 57% during the mid-week run, but it has dipped below 56% on CoinGecko now.
Market Data
Market Cap: $2.295T | 24H Vol: $61B | BTC Dominance: 55.9%
BTC: $64.000 (+2%) | ETH: $1,855 (+2.4%) | XRP: $1.09 (+1.7%)
This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss
Strategy Extends Bitcoin Buying Pause While Growing Its USD Reserve: Details. Saylor’s company appears to have listened to some market experts who suggested that it should pause its BTC purchases in favor of rebuilding its USD reserve. The past week proved that narrative right once again with another no-buy bitcoin announcement.
Veteran Crypto Exchange BitMEX to Shut Down in September. After nearly a decade in existence, the veteran derivatives platform BitMEX announced that it will close shop in September. The creator of the 100x perpetual swap will permanently cease operations on September 23 and urged users to withdraw their funds by then. While on the subject, DEX aggregator Odos said it will shut down next week.
SEC Agrees to Overhaul Recordkeeping After Settling Coinbase Lawsuit Over Gensler’s Lost Texts. Despite not admitting any wrongdoing, the US Securities and Exchange Commission settled with Coinbase a lawsuit launched by the exchange and agreed to pay $150,000 in attorney fees. The regulator also said it will review its own internal processes.
‘Hackers Day’: 3 Crypto Protocols Drained of $35 Million in 24 Hours. July 23 became known in the crypto community as ‘Hackers’ Day’ with 3 major exploits taking place within less than 24 hours. The largest of the bunch was against Arbitrum-based protocol AFX Trade, in which the bad actors swiped over $24 million in USDC.
EU Hits Russia With Toughest Crypto Crackdown Yet. The European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia, targeting 11 crypto operators and 94 financial institutions to combat sanctions evasion. Many of those platforms came from Belarus and Nigeria and were linked to numerous Russian financial activities.
Ethereum (ETH) Is Cheap, But Not at Bottom Yet: Analysts. The world’s largest altcoin may be trading well below its record peaks and at a discount, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it has bottomed yet. Analysts at CryptoQuant noted that only two out of five signals suggest that the worst is behind ETH.
Charts
This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid – click here for the complete price analysis.
The post Bitcoin Rejected at $67K, Strategy Stays on Hold, BitMEX Shuts Down: Weekly Crypto Recap appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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