• Ethena (ENA) is testing critical support at $0.085.
• A 290M ENA wallet transfer raised selling concerns.
• Bitcoin’s next move could determine ENA’s direction.

Ethena is back in focus after a large wallet transfer drew attention at a time when the token is already testing a crucial price level.

While the transfer sparked concerns about potential selling pressure, the broader market reaction has remained measured.

ENA tests key support as whale transfer attracts attention

Ethena was trading at $0.08695, down 2.4% over the past 24 hours, after moving between $0.08530 and $0.09125 during the session.

Although the daily decline has put pressure on the token, ENA is still up 8.3% over the past seven days and 11.1% over the last two weeks, showing that it has recovered part of the losses recorded earlier this year.

The latest market attention came after a wallet linked to Ethena’s Coinbase custody holdings transferred approximately 290 million ENA, valued at about $26.4 million, to another wallet that has previously interacted with cryptocurrency exchanges.

Today, Ethena’s Coinbase custody wallet (0x631) transferred 290m $ENA, worth $26.41m, to the personal wallet 0xfDD.

Based on its transaction history, wallet 0xfDD typically transfers ENA to personal wallets, which are then used to sell the tokens on Binance and Coinbase.… https://t.co/CkCGU73kLv pic.twitter.com/jkB8dFUNEG

— Nazoku (@Nazo_ku) July 23, 2026

Transactions of this size often raise concerns because they can precede exchange deposits and increased selling activity.

However, the transfer alone did not trigger an immediate wave of selling.

Market data showed that exchange netflows remained negative, meaning more ENA continued leaving exchanges than entering them. That suggests the transaction has not yet translated into confirmed selling pressure in the spot market.

The transfer has therefore become an important signal for traders rather than confirmation of a bearish trend.

Focus is now on whether additional transfers to centralised exchanges follow in the coming sessions.

Falling trading volume points to weak selling conviction

Another notable development is the decline in trading activity.

ENA recorded approximately $89.4 million in 24-hour trading volume, while recent market data showed that daily trading activity had dropped by more than 40% compared with previous sessions.

Lower trading volume during a price decline often indicates that sellers are becoming less aggressive rather than accelerating their positions.

While this does not guarantee a reversal, it also means the recent weakness has not been accompanied by unusually strong conviction from the market.

The token’s historical price action also provides additional context.

ENA reached an all-time high of $1.52 in April 2024 but currently trades about 94.3% below that level.

At the same time, it remains roughly 23.4% above its all-time low of $0.07023, recorded on June 30, 2026.

These figures highlight that ENA continues to trade much closer to its recent lows than its previous peak, making current support levels particularly significant for short-term price direction.

$0.085 remains the level traders are watching

From a technical perspective, $0.085 has emerged as the most important near-term support level.

A sustained move below this area, especially if accompanied by rising trading volume, would increase the likelihood of a decline toward the next major support around $0.080.

On the upside, resistance is beginning to form between $0.093 and $0.096.

Price data also shows a concentration of short liquidation levels just above $0.093, meaning a successful breakout through that region could trigger additional buying as short positions are forced to close.

For now, ENA remains caught between these two key technical zones, leaving traders focused on confirmation rather than anticipation.

Bitcoin’s next move could shape ENA’s direction

Beyond token-specific developments, Bitcoin continues to play an important role in ENA’s short-term outlook.

Market participants are watching whether Bitcoin can remain above $64,000, as broader weakness in the largest cryptocurrency has weighed on sentiment across the digital asset market.

If Bitcoin stabilises, buying interest could return to several altcoins, including ENA.

Conversely, continued weakness in Bitcoin would increase pressure on support levels that are already being tested.

That makes Bitcoin’s price movements an important external factor alongside the developments surrounding the large ENA wallet transfer.

Ethena also continues to maintain strong protocol activity, with approximately $3.992 billion in total value locked (TVL).

While TVL reflects ongoing capital committed to the protocol, traders are currently placing greater emphasis on price action, exchange flows, trading volume, and macro market conditions when assessing ENA’s next move.

For now, attention remains fixed on three developments: whether the $0.085 support can hold, whether the 290 million ENA wallet transfer eventually results in meaningful exchange deposits, and whether Bitcoin can provide enough market stability to support a broader recovery.

The US House of Representatives has passed a congressional stock-trading ban by a 232-198 vote, sending the measure to the Senate despite criticism that it leaves existing holdings untouched.

According to a statement from Representative Bryan Steil’s office, the House approved the Stop Insider Trading Act on Wednesday, July 22. The Wisconsin Republican introduced the legislation in January and urged senators to send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Under the bill, members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children would no longer be allowed to buy securities issued by publicly traded companies. The restriction would apply to new purchases, but lawmakers and their relatives could retain stocks already in their portfolios.

Existing shares could still be sold, provided the owner files a public notice before the transaction. The bill requires notice at least seven days and no more than 14 days before a planned sale, with filings submitted to the clerk of the House or the secretary of the Senate.

Steil presented the proposal as a way to prevent lawmakers from using information obtained through public office for personal gain. Speaking after its passage, he called the bill “a major step forward for ethics reform on Capitol Hill.”

Penalties would combine a financial charge with the loss of trading profits. Congressional ethics committees would impose either $2,000 or 10% of the covered investment’s value, whichever amount is higher, while violators would also have to surrender any profit earned from a prohibited transaction.

During the House debate, Steil noted that lawmakers had not previously received a comparable opportunity to vote on the issue. The bill secured bipartisan support, though the 232 votes in favor represented only a narrow share of the chamber.

Senate opposition threatens the stock-trading ban

After receiving the legislation on Thursday, the Senate became the next obstacle for Steil’s proposal. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who has backed stricter limits on congressional trading, rejected the House language because it would permit officials to keep and sell stocks they already own.

“The bill has major loopholes,” Warren wrote on Thursday, adding that the current version was “not gonna fly in the Senate.” She argued that members of Congress should be barred from owning, buying or selling individual stocks rather than facing restrictions limited mainly to future purchases.

Steil has defended the advance-notice requirement as a deterrent against trades based on confidential information. Because a planned sale would become public before execution, lawmakers could face scrutiny over the transaction and any government action connected to the company.

Warren’s objection, however, points to a basic difference between the two approaches. Her preferred restriction would force lawmakers out of individual stock ownership, while the House bill would let current portfolios remain in place and regulate how their holdings are sold.

The proposal also covers fewer federal officials than the ethics language being considered as part of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Steil’s stock bill applies to Congress and the immediate family members specified in the text, leaving the president, vice president and their families outside its restrictions.

A revised 616-page CLARITY Act draft takes a different approach to crypto-related conflicts. According to the proposed text reported this week, covered federal officials, including the president, vice president, lawmakers and federal judges, would be prohibited from issuing or sponsoring digital assets through Jan. 20, 2029.

Crypto intermediaries would also be prevented from listing assets issued or sponsored in violation of those provisions. Unlike the permanent trading rules proposed by Steil, CLARITY’s ethics restrictions would expire on the specified 2029 date.

Prediction-market rules target similar conflicts

Alongside the stock legislation, Steil has proposed a separate measure covering wagers made through prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The House Administration Committee chairman introduced the Stop Lawmakers from Predicting Act on June 18, citing the risk that officials could profit from information unavailable to the public.

According to the House Administration Committee, the legislation would prevent members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from wagering on political outcomes or public-policy questions. Steil argued that lawmakers should write policy rather than place bets on its outcome.

Its penalty structure closely follows the House-approved stock bill. A violation would carry a charge equal to $2,000 or 10% of the prohibited wager’s value, whichever is higher, plus forfeiture of the net gain from the contract.

Public scrutiny of prediction markets has increased following reports of users profiting from political information. One reported case involved a soldier who allegedly earned more than $400,000 from contracts linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s removal by US forces in January.

A former Trump teleprompter operator was separately reported to have made more than $90,000 from Kalshi contracts tied to words and phrases used during the president’s speeches. Arizona officials later cited the reported activity while tightening rules against government employees using nonpublic information on prediction platforms.

Steil’s two proposals apply the same principle to different financial products: congressional officials should not be able to turn privileged knowledge into personal returns. Their progress now differs, however, as the stock bill awaits Senate action while the prediction-market measure remains at an earlier stage of the legislative process.

Ripple has introduced Ripple Mint, a new institutional platform aimed at simplifying how businesses interact with its US dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD). The company positions the service as a unified gateway for key stablecoin operations—minting, redeeming, and ongoing management—either through a web interface or via direct API integrations.

Ripple Mint was announced on Thursday as Ripple continues to emphasize enterprise workflows. For investors and builders, the release matters because stablecoins are increasingly being assessed not just on liquidity or issuance, but on how easily companies can integrate them into payments, trading, and treasury systems.

Key takeaways

• Ripple Mint is designed to let institutions access RLUSD through a single platform for minting, redeeming, and management.
• The platform supports both manual workflows via a web interface and automated workflows through API integrations.
• Ripple Mint’s launch follows RLUSD’s December 2024 debut, which has been oriented toward institutional use cases while also drawing retail attention.
• RLUSD has grown into one of the larger US dollar stablecoins by market cap, reaching the top 10 less than a year after launch, according to Cointelegraph.
• CoinGecko data cited by Cointelegraph shows RLUSD briefly surpassed $1.8 billion in market cap on June 1, 2026.

What Ripple Mint adds for institutions

Ripple describes Ripple Mint as a unified platform intended to provide institutions with “flexible access” to digital dollars through the workflows that best fit their internal operations. In practical terms, that means organizations can manage RLUSD in ways tailored to how they already handle financial processes.

Ripple’s announcement also underlines a dual approach: organizations that prefer a more manual setup can use the platform through a web interface, while those looking to automate stablecoin operations can connect through application programming interfaces. This distinction is important for institutions because stablecoin adoption often hinges on whether issuance and redemption can plug into existing systems without creating operational bottlenecks.

Ripple noted that Ripple Mint is built to support both manual activity and automated integrations as stablecoins increasingly move into roles involving payments, trading, and treasury.

How RLUSD’s positioning has evolved

RLUSD launched in December 2024 with an institutional focus, although Cointelegraph previously reported that it also found traction among retail users. That broader adoption profile is part of the context for Ripple Mint: stablecoin issuers and infrastructure providers are competing on the full lifecycle—acquisition, operational handling, and controls—not only on token availability.

Cointelegraph reported that RLUSD grew into one of the larger US dollar-pegged stablecoins by market capitalization, reaching the top 10 in less than a year after launch. The token’s scale helps explain why a platform like Ripple Mint is being emphasized now: as stablecoins attract more diverse holders, the demand for structured, institution-friendly tooling typically increases.

Market cap momentum around the launch

Ripple Mint arrives during a period where RLUSD has shown notable market-cap momentum. Cointelegraph linked CoinGecko data indicating that RLUSD recorded an all-time high in market capitalization on June 1, 2026, when it surpassed $1.8 billion.

Cointelegraph also stated that around the Ripple Mint launch, RLUSD’s market cap briefly moved from roughly $1.54 billion to about $1.64 billion before settling near $1.59 billion. At the time of publication, the token was ranked as the ninth-largest USD-pegged stablecoin by market cap, per CoinGecko’s data view of the category.

For readers, it’s worth separating two things: market capitalization performance reflects overall demand and supply dynamics, while institutional tooling reflects an issuer’s push to reduce friction for business use. Ripple Mint speaks directly to the latter, but it can also influence the former over time if it improves integration speed and lowers operational complexity for institutions considering stablecoin deployments.

Why API-first stablecoin access matters now

Stablecoin adoption has repeatedly stalled at the integration layer. Even when an asset meets the requirements for settlement or treasury management, institutions often need to connect minting/redemption and operational controls into internal platforms such as ERP systems, compliance tooling, and treasury workflows. Ripple Mint’s emphasis on both web access and API integration targets exactly that problem.

As Cointelegraph noted earlier coverage of stablecoin payment and infrastructure efforts across the industry, the market is moving toward more structured stablecoin plumbing—payments acceptance, liquidity handling, and treasury automation. Ripple Mint fits into that direction by focusing on the operational functions institutions typically care about most: managing supply, executing lifecycle events, and doing so in a way that aligns with both human-in-the-loop processes and fully automated execution.

There is still an open question for investors: how quickly institutions will adopt the new platform and whether Ripple Mint becomes a meaningful driver of RLUSD usage beyond existing channels. The token’s positioning by market cap suggests strong interest, but adoption of infrastructure often plays out over quarters rather than days.

Going forward, market participants should watch for evidence that Ripple Mint is accelerating institutional onboarding—such as increased RLUSD volumes tied to enterprise activity, broader mentions of RLUSD integrations, and any further product expansions that deepen automation and controls for regulated workflows.

Once again, Litecoin has become an area of focus as the crypto nears a crucial technical resistance level that will dictate whether it moves on a fresh trend direction. For months, Litecoin has been consolidating inside a descending channel, but recently, the crypto has started signaling growing strength amid continued support from buyers at key levels.

While the breakout is yet to be confirmed, positive developments in terms of price structure, derivatives positioning, and increasing buying activity have shifted the market’s interest to the prospect of a breakout move.

Descending Channel Set for a Tough Test

As per technical analysis provided by ZAYK Charts, Litecoin faces a critical test against the upper boundary of the well-established descending channel that has been constraining price moves upwards for many months. Sellers repeatedly defended resistance during the course of the correction and created lower highs and lows along the way.

In recent weeks, though, the market structure has improved. The buyers managed to defend the support level of the descending channel in June and since then formed a pattern of higher swing lows. Instead of making sharp retracements after rallies, Litecoin trades close to resistance, indicating increasing buying pressure.

This sort of price action is frequently indicative of improving market sentiment, although most technical analysts would consider a daily close above resistance to be necessary to confirm a breakout. Should that be seen, the measured move from the descending channel is estimated at around 31% upside. Chart projections do not guarantee anything about future performance but give technical targets based on the completed price action patterns.

Price Action Stays Positive

As of writing, Litecoin is currently priced at about $47.10, marking a 1.39% price gain in the current trading session. The session kicked off near the $46.40 level, where buyers formed a consolidation area, then slowly moved prices above the psychologically important level of $47.00.

The momentum continued to build throughout the session and allowed Litecoin to touch an intraday high near the $47.55 level. After some profit-taking took place, buyers still managed to hold on to the $47 mark, which allowed prices to move sideways between about $47.10 and $47.30, without much selling pressure.

A slow upward movement is perceived as better compared to a quick spike, as it could indicate real buying interest rather than speculation momentum.

However, there is one crucial element that is missing from the equation so far. Daily trading volume fell by about 12.8% to around $187.46 million, suggesting that there is not enough participation in the rally from the whole market yet.

Liquidations Point to a Healthy Market

In addition to the price movement, Litecoin’s derivative market also shows some positive signs. The recent liquidation figures indicate that excess leverage has gradually been stripped away from the market after two major corrections.

The biggest surge of long liquidations was recorded at the end of January and beginning of February, where leveraged positions incurred losses of around $10.86 million. This led to a further decline of prices due to traders being squeezed out of their positions.

The other liquidation instance was observed in late May to early June, during which the price of Litecoin moved down from around $49 to about $42-$43 range. After the correction, the volume of liquidations began to normalize, implying that most of the speculative leverage had been stripped away.

The short-side liquidations have been relatively low during the same period, indicating that the bull traders had mostly covered themselves in the market’s forced changes.

Reduced liquidation activity makes the market a healthier one as the price changes will not be driven by excess leverage but market demand.

Breakout Confirmation Remains The Critical Indicator

The Litecoin technical picture continues to show signs of improvement, with buyers defending important levels of support amid continued resistance from the long-term descending resistance. As the technicals continue to favor buyers, with reduced risks of leverage, the emphasis has been on confirmation of the breakout.

However, despite the positive technicals mentioned above, there has not yet been an outright daily close above the channel resistance. Until that happens, that will be the important resistance for the moment. If buyers succeed in breaking that level with conviction, it would signal a move towards more bullish levels for Litecoin.

Strategy’s STRC preferred stock has become the largest holding in three major U.S. preferred stock ETFs, which collectively own $756 million of the security even as its price remains about 13% below its $100 par value.

Michael Saylor, Strategy’s co-founder and executive chairman, disclosed that STRC now leads the portfolios of BlackRock’s iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (PFF), Virtus InfraCap’s U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (PFFA), and VanEck’s Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF (PFXF). In a July 24 X post, Saylor described the placements as evidence that Strategy’s “digital credit” products are entering institutional portfolios.

The three funds give investors indirect exposure to STRC alongside preferred securities issued by established U.S. companies. According to Saylor’s figures, their combined STRC position has reached $756 million, making the security the largest individual holding in each portfolio.

Although ETF demand has increased, STRC closed at $86.89 on July 24, gaining 2.29% during the session before rising to $87.14 in after-hours trading, according to market data shown by Yahoo Finance. Its closing price left the stock 13.11% below the $100 level Strategy designed it to track.

Trading below par has become an important constraint for Strategy because the company uses STRC sales to raise money for Bitcoin purchases. Strategy can issue additional preferred shares near or above $100 and direct the proceeds into Bitcoin, but selling new stock at a large discount would secure less capital per share and weaken the economics of the transaction.

ETF demand has lifted institutional ownership

Strategy CEO Phong Le reported that the average STRC position held by institutions climbed 105% to $3.5 million between March and July. Over the same period, retail investors’ share of ownership fell from 78% to 71%, according to figures Le published on X.

“The institutions are coming,” Le wrote.

His figures correct reports describing the increase in average institutional holdings as 10%. Le’s post placed the increase at 105%, indicating that the average position more than doubled during the four-month period.

Institutional participation does not prove that every buyer expects either STRC or Bitcoin to rise, according to Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff. Responding to Le, Schiff argued that retail investors may have sold their positions at a loss while professional investors entered trades designed to profit from differences between Strategy’s securities.

Schiff suggested that some funds could have purchased STRC while shorting Strategy’s common stock, MSTR, as a spread trade. Other buyers may have paired long STRC positions with short Bitcoin exposure, he added.

“None of those trades are bullish bets,” Schiff wrote in his response.

Strategy currently pays STRC holders a 12% annual dividend in cash through two payments each month. The company’s STRC information page states that management adjusts the dividend rate monthly to encourage the stock to trade around its $100 par value and reduce price volatility.

The preferred stock’s high payout has not yet closed the discount. STRC’s 52-week range spans $71.25 to $100.42, while its July 24 closing price remained closer to the lower end of that range than to par.

The $100 level controls Strategy’s Bitcoin funding

Le has directly linked further STRC issuance and Bitcoin purchases to a recovery in the preferred stock. During a July interview, the Strategy CEO said the company would resume issuing more STRC once it returned to par.

“We’ll continue to build that. And yeah, when Stretch gets back to par, we’ll issue more. We’ll buy more Bitcoin,” Le said.

Under this funding model, a return to $100 would allow Strategy to sell new STRC shares on more favorable terms and use the proceeds to add Bitcoin. Until the discount closes, Le’s comments indicate that the company has less incentive to expand the program.

Strategy has already demonstrated how pressure on its preferred securities can affect its Bitcoin treasury. A July 6 filing showed that the company sold 3,588 BTC for $216 million to fund dividends on its digital-credit securities and maintain liquidity. Following the sale, Saylor reported that Strategy held 843,775 BTC and had increased its U.S. dollar reserves to $2.55 billion.

Also on July 6, Binance Stocks added STRC for spot trading, according to the exchange’s announcement reported by crypto.news. The listing followed the introduction of STRC-linked perpetual futures and gave Binance users another route to trade the preferred security.

Binance stated that fully paid securities lending would become available after stock transactions had settled completely. While the listing added another distribution channel for STRC, the stock’s continued discount shows that ETF accumulation and additional trading access have not yet restored the $100 level needed to restart Strategy’s preferred-share-funded Bitcoin purchases.

Singapore-based Bitcoin mining pool Poolin and two of its US affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a New Jersey court on Wednesday.

Poolin’s court filing shows that the mining pool operator has estimated liabilities of $100 million to $500 million, assets of $1 million to $10 million and 10,001 to 25,000 creditors.

Poolin and its affiliates are also seeking court approval to sell two West Texas mining sites to Thor CALAP LLC under a proposed $52 million stalking-horse bid. This includes $37 million for the Tarbush assets, including assumed liabilities, and $15 million for the Pyote site, including the power rights, equipment and all other assets tied to the mining facilities.

The proposed sale would be subject to a court-supervised auction, with a bid deadline of Sept. 8 under the proposed bidding procedures.

Poolin was once the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pool in 2019. It now ranks as the 17th largest mining pool operator by hashrate, with a 0.2% market share, according to Hashrate Index.

Related: Hobby-level miner bags $200K solo BTC block with budget Bitaxe rig

Bitcoin miners increasingly turn to restructuring and AI

Bitcoin mining operations are facing growing financial constraints due to rising electricity costs, forcing some operations to shut down while others are seeking new revenue sources.

In February, NFN8 Group and two of its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Western District of Texas. 

Other miners have sought to diversify into AI infrastructure. In November 2025, Bitfarms initiated a complete wind-down of its Bitcoin mining operations to pivot to AI and high-performance computing data centers.

On Monday, Bitcoin mining companies Hut 8 and IREN announced major AI infrastructure deals. Hut 8 announced a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for its AI data center campus and IREN disclosed $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts with AI developers. Earlier in July, MARA Holdings announced plans to acquire a Texas site with up to 2 gigawatts of capacity to expand its AI and digital infrastructure business.

Wealth management company Bernstein said that deals with third-party providers, such as Bitcoin miners, will be necessary for AI companies seeking to address the computing power limits of AI data centers.

Magazine: Bitcoin nearing late stages of bear market: Jamie Coutts, Real Vision

Strive’s SATA preferred shares have rebounded from a June low of $83.30 to about $97, recovering most of the selloff and moving back within roughly 3% of their $100 par value, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Strive introduced SATA in November 2025 as part of its strategy to finance the expansion of its Bitcoin treasury through preferred equity. The variable-rate perpetual preferred stock is intended to trade near its $100 par value by adjusting its dividend rate, allowing Strive to raise capital for its Bitcoin (BTC) treasury without issuing additional common shares.

SATA is one of a growing number of preferred-share products tied to Bitcoin treasury strategies, an emerging segment that companies such as Strategy describe as “digital credit.”

Strategy’s STRC, launched in 2025 with a similar objective of maintaining a $100 share price through a variable dividend, also fell sharply during the late-June selloff before recovering, though it continues to trade below par at around $87.

SATA year-to-date price chart. Source: Yahoo Finance

While Strategy remains the world’s largest public corporate Bitcoin holder with 843,775 BTC, Strive has climbed to seventh place with 19,921 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET.

Top 10 Bitcoin treasury companies. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.NET

Related: Strategy raises $263.5M through MSTR sales, holds 843,775 Bitcoin

SATA recovery could help lift Strategy’s STRC, says Mow

Jan3 founder and CEO Samson Mow told Cointelegraph that recent adjustments by Bitcoin treasury companies are beginning to restore confidence in preferred-share products, supporting his view that Bitcoin has already found its bottom.

“I think every action that Strategy has undertaken to strengthen their balance sheet and encourage STRC to go back to par is also working,” Mow said, adding:

But everything sort of works in tandem. I think as SATA returns to par, you’re going to see STRC return to par too, because people say, ‘OK, this model’s not broken.’ Everyone is capitalized for three or more years of dividend payments… there was no reason to panic all along.

Mow said the improving performance of preferred-share products is part of a broader shift in the Bitcoin treasury sector, where companies have continued refining their capital-raising strategies. 

He pointed to Lyn Alden’s Orange Juice treasury company, which launched on July 15 with plans to operate a Bitcoin treasury, as another example of firms entering the market with different approaches and a lower Bitcoin cost basis.

Samson Mow interview with Cointelegraph. Source: Cointelegraph

Magazine: A quantum roadmap would push Bitcoin much higher: Charles Edwards