PUMP RSI, Source: TradingView

American sports company Fanatics is making a major move into prediction markets, a corner of finance that has exploded in popularity over the past year as traders wager on everything from elections to inflation and sports.

On Monday, the sports merchandiser announced that it has agreed to acquire Water Street Labs and CX Clearinghouse from BGC Group, giving Fanatics ownership of a federally regulated exchange and clearinghouse which allows it to launch and settle its own prediction market contracts. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Through the acquisition, Fanatics will be able to list and clear contracts itself, giving it more control over the products it offers and how quickly it can bring new markets online. Fanatics and BGC also plan to develop new market data products that combine prediction market activity with traditional financial data, the companies said.

Prediction markets have become one of the fastest-growing areas of finance with much of that growth being fueled by CFTC-regulated exchange Kalshi and powerhouse Polymarket, which runs its operations on a blockchain.

Hong Kong’s HashKey will unify its crypto exchange branches, with users from its Hong Kong, Global, Singapore and Middle East regions using the same platform.

Hong Kong digital asset services business HashKey Holdings has merged its HashKey Exchange and HashKey Global exchanges into a single platform and application.

Core jurisdictional hubs including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East (Dubai) and Bermuda have been merged under a single platform, according to a Monday announcement. The move represents a departure from the early stages of the virtual asset industry when licensed exchanges typically operated under regional siloed models to simplify compliance. HashKey said.

The transition follows a principle of “unified entry, localized compliance” where all users download the same application while the platform manages compliance across their specific legislative domain — across the Hong Kong, Global, Singapore, or Middle East regions.

This results in a single front-end that simplifies access to systems that are promised to remain compliant with local regulatory frameworks thanks to localized management.

Other platforms, including OKX, present their website and mobile apps as one platform, while its terms assign customers to different providers according to residence. On the legal backend, that same platform is based on separate entities for Singapore, Dubai, Australia, the EEA, Brazil and the United States.

Kraken similarly consolidated Dutch broker BCM into its platform after acquiring it in September 2024. In August, Kraken began serving its European Economic Area through its Irish MiCA entity under a similar unified regulatory framework.

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BitMine Immersion Technologies expanded its Ethereum treasury and accelerated its share buybacks last week, while BMNR stock jumped nearly 11% on Monday as ETH reclaimed $1,900.

BitMine adds 9,946 ETH to its treasury

BitMine disclosed Monday that it purchased 9,946 ETH during the previous week, extending a weekly buying streak that began at the start of 2026.

The latest acquisition increased the company’s holdings to 5,787,414 ETH, equivalent to approximately 4.8% of Ethereum’s total supply. That puts BitMine close to its stated goal of owning 5% of all ETH in circulation.

The purchase also marked an increase from the prior week, when the company acquired 7,430 ETH. BitMine’s latest addition came as Ethereum recovered above $1,900 and reached its highest price in ten weeks.

Most of the company’s ETH is generating staking rewards. BitMine has staked 4,917,189 ETH, worth around $9.6 billion and representing about 85% of its total Ethereum holdings.

Staking allows BitMine to earn network rewards on its treasury assets, although the strategy also leaves its valuation heavily exposed to changes in the ETH price.

Share repurchases rise as ETH/BTC ratio strengthens

BitMine also bought back 6.1 million of its own shares last week, up from the 5.5 million shares repurchased during the previous week.

The latest transaction brought cumulative purchases under its $4 billion repurchase program to 11.6 million shares. Chairman Tom Lee linked the larger buyback to the recent improvement in the ETH-to-Bitcoin ratio, which measures Ethereum’s relative performance against BTC.

“In fact, this ratio is now at a 3-month high at 0.3000, which we believe bodes well for future strengthening of ETH prices.”

Lee added that Ethereum’s next notable price levels could be $2,000 and $2,500, citing targets identified by technical strategists. He also referenced BitMine adviser Tom DeMark, who sees those levels as possible near-term targets if Ethereum continues to follow its comparison with the S&P 500 after October 1987.

Those projections remain dependent on Ethereum maintaining its recovery. A renewed crypto market decline would affect both the value of BitMine’s treasury and investor demand for BMNR.

BMNR stock tests resistance after 10.89% gain

BMNR closed at $17.51 on July 27, gaining 10.89% during the session after trading between $16.67 and $18.02, according to the TradingView daily chart.

The stock has remained above a rising support trendline drawn from its late-June low. It also closed above the 20-day simple moving average at $15.49 and the 50-day average at $16.59, showing an improving short-term structure.

However, BMNR remains below its 100-day average at $18.95. A sustained move above that level could strengthen the recovery and expose the $20 area, while the 200-day average remains much higher at $26.13.

The average directional index stands at 17.22. An ADX reading below 20 suggests the rebound has not yet developed into a strong directional trend, leaving the stock vulnerable to further consolidation.

What the move means for US investors

BitMine gives US equity investors indirect exposure to Ethereum through a publicly traded stock, but BMNR also carries company-specific risks that direct ETH holders do not face. Its performance depends on Ethereum prices, staking income, treasury management, and the effect of share repurchases on its capital structure.

Institutional interest has also increased. As crypto.news reported last week, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest purchased 5,264 BMNR shares through its flagship ARK Innovation ETF. ARK allocated about $251,500 across BitMine shares and the 3iQ Solana Staking ETF through three funds.

BitMine’s next key milestones are reaching the 5% ETH supply threshold and clearing the $18.95 technical resistance level. Progress on either front could shape whether BMNR extends its rebound or returns to its recent trading range.

Bitcoin (BTC) sought to build on local highs at Monday’s Wall Street open as US stocks opened in the green.

Key points:

• Bitcoin approached new local highs with the start of the week’s first US trading session.
• Stocks also opened higher amid relief over a hiatus in the US-Iran war and potential progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
• BTC price action defended two daily moving averages on Sunday’s weekly close.

Bitcoin follows stocks higher as Iran news offers risk-asset tailwind

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking to near $66,000 as markets reacted to a pause in strikes between the US and Iran. 

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Additional reports cited an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman announcing that Tehran and Oman were “trying to establish mechanisms regarding maritime traffic” through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil route currently closed.

US WTI crude oil fell toward $82 per barrel on Monday before a modest rebound. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index were both up by around 0.3% at the time of writing.

CFDs on US WTI crude oil one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Acknowledging a potential stumbling block in the form of higher US bond yields, trading company QCP Capital voiced that they were anticipating tailwinds for the crypto market going forward. 

“Digital assets have generally outperformed equities in July despite a more challenging macro backdrop,” the firm wrote in its latest Market Color analysis. 

“BTC and ETH are up approximately 11.6% and 24.6% month-to-date, respectively, even as higher Treasury yields and periodic risk-off sentiment have weighed on broader markets.”

QCP referenced developments around the CLARITY Act, a key piece of proposed crypto legislation still under consideration.

“Market attention also remains on developments surrounding the proposed CLARITY Act, which continues to be closely followed by digital asset participants given its potential implications for the US regulatory framework,” it continued.

BTC price support holds but remains fragile

Among Bitcoin traders, caution mixed with quiet optimism over BTC price action on shorter time frames.

Related: Rate path still divides investors: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

Crypto trader and analyst Michaël Van de Poppe highlighted that BTC was holding the 21-day and 50-day simple moving averages (SMAs) as support. These stood at $64,289 and $63,261, respectively.

“This is a strong signal for the markets to be betting on the long side of this asset, however, it’s still a little fragile,” he wrote in ongoing updates on X. 

“I’d much prefer to see a strong move to $66,000-67,000 over the next 1-3 days to see a continuous bid coming in.”

BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Michaël Van de Poppe on X.com

Data from CoinGlass showed crypto short liquidations spiking as the market rose, with these nearing $250 million over a 24-hour period.

BTC/USD vs. crypto liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass

Perpetual swaps, also called perpetual futures or “perps” for short, are the dominant trading instrument in the crypto market, processing an estimated $40 to 50 trillion a year in volume. They dwarf spot trading, and they are the product that professional traders, hedge funds and retail speculators reach for when they want leveraged exposure to the price of bitcoin or tther without owning the underlying asset. Despite their ubiquity, the mechanics that make them work are not widely understood.

To understand perps, it helps to understand what came before them. In traditional finance, leveraged exposure to an asset typically comes through a futures contract, an agreement to buy or sell something at a set price on a specific date. When that date arrives, the contract expires and settles. Traders who want to maintain their position must roll it into the next contract.

In crypto’s early days, this practice created persistent problems. Futures traded at a premium to the spot price of bitcoin, a concept known as basis, which confused retail traders who wanted straightforward directional exposure. And every time a contract expired, positions closed regardless of whether traders wanted them to. BitMEX, the derivatives exchange founded by Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo in 2014, spent the better part of a year shortening contract durations trying to solve this, moving from quarterly to monthly to weekly to 48-hour to 24-hour expiries, but none of that was enough.

A contract that never expires

The perpetual swap, which Delo developed and BitMEX launched in May 2015, resolved the problem by eliminating the expiry date entirely, creating a derivative contract that tracks the price of an asset indefinitely. There is no settlement date, no rolling and no expiry. Traders can hold a position for hours or years. This created an immediate structural challenge: without an expiry date to act as an anchor, nothing would naturally force the contract price back toward the spot price of the underlying asset. BitMEX solved this through a mechanism that has since become the industry standard.

Every eight hours, a payment is exchanged between traders on opposite sides of the market. If the perpetual swap is trading above the spot price, indicating excess demand for long positions, traders who are long pay traders who are short. If the perpetual swap is trading below spot, the payment runs the other way. The exchange takes no cut. The rate of this payment, known as the funding rate, is calculated based on how far the perpetual swap price has deviated from spot over the preceding eight-hour window. The further the deviation, the higher the rate. This creates a self-correcting equilibrium. When longs are being charged a substantial funding rate, it becomes expensive to hold the position, which reduces demand and pulls the price back toward spot. Market makers accelerate this process by shorting the perpetual swap and buying spot whenever a meaningful premium opens up, capturing the difference as profit. The funding rate mechanism is now used, in essentially the same form, by every major derivatives exchange in the world.

The role of leverage

The other defining feature of perpetual swaps is leverage. Most exchanges allow traders to control positions significantly larger than their deposited capital, with limits varying by platform and jurisdiction. At BitMEX in its prime, leverage of up to 100 times was available, meaning a 1% move in Bitcoin’s price would produce a 100% gain or loss on a fully leveraged position. To manage the risk this creates for the exchange, perpetual swap platforms use automated liquidation systems. If a trader’s losses approach the value of their deposited margin, the system closes the position before it can go negative, protecting the exchange from absorbing the deficit. The speed and reliability of that liquidation engine became a key competitive differentiator in the early years of the market, and remains central to how exchanges compete today.

Perpetual swaps are now the primary venue for price discovery in crypto. When bitcoin moves sharply, the move typically originates in perp markets before spreading to spot. The structure Delo built in 2015 has proven durable enough that regulators in the U.S. are now exploring its application to traditional assets, with the CME potentially listing perpetual swaps on equities. What began as a workaround for the limitations of crypto futures has become one of the most traded financial products in the world.

HashKey Holdings says it has consolidated its exchange operations into a single user-facing platform, bringing together what were previously separate apps for different regions. In an announcement released Monday, the Hong Kong digital asset services firm said customers across Hong Kong, “Global,” Singapore, and the Middle East (Dubai) will use the same application—while compliance controls are handled according to each jurisdiction’s legal requirements.

The update reflects a broader shift away from early “regional silo” exchange models, where licensing and front-end products were often kept separate to reduce compliance complexity. HashKey’s approach is built around a principle it describes as “unified entry, localized compliance.”

Key takeaways

• HashKey has merged its HashKey Exchange and HashKey Global into one platform and one application for users across multiple regions.
• The front-end experience is centralized, while regulatory compliance is managed based on each customer’s legislative domain.
• HashKey frames the change as a move from earlier jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction exchange silos toward a unified model.
• Other major exchanges have implemented similar structures, though with different ways of routing users to local legal entities.

One app across regions, with compliance tailored locally

HashKey said it has consolidated core jurisdictional hubs—including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East (Dubai), and Bermuda—under a single platform and application. While the firm’s statement emphasizes that the “front-end” is unified, it also stresses that the system is designed to remain compliant with local frameworks by managing compliance requirements in line with each user’s jurisdiction.

Under HashKey’s model, users download the same application, but the platform applies localized compliance handling across the Hong Kong, Global, Singapore, and Middle East regions. In practical terms, that means the product experience is simpler to access, even though the legal and regulatory obligations still differ by geography.

Why unified platforms are becoming more common

HashKey’s announcement positions the merger as an evolution from the early days of virtual asset trading. In those early stages, many licensed exchanges operated through regional silos—separate platforms, separate apps, and often separate operational setups—to make it easier to compartmentalize compliance.

According to HashKey, its updated structure is intended to preserve compliance benefits while reducing friction for users who operate across or move between markets. The promise is a single front-end that can simplify access to systems expected to remain aligned with local regulatory requirements, as compliance is managed within the platform rather than through separate customer-facing products.

For traders and liquidity providers, a unified application can also reduce the risk of confusion around which interface, account type, or supported features apply in different jurisdictions. For the operator, it can streamline development and user onboarding workflows by consolidating the customer entry point while maintaining jurisdiction-specific controls in the background.

How this compares with other exchanges’ structures

HashKey is not alone in moving toward centralized user experiences paired with jurisdiction-specific legal coverage.

As one comparison, the article notes that OKX presents its website and mobile apps as one platform. However, OKX’s terms reportedly assign customers to different providers based on residence. In other words, the customer-facing “one app” concept is paired with a legal routing layer that maps users to the appropriate entity depending on where they are.

Kraken provides another example. The announcement referenced that Kraken consolidated a Dutch broker entity—BCM—into its platform after acquiring it in September 2024. Kraken has also expanded its European offering through a MiCA structure: the firm reportedly began serving the EEA through its Irish MiCA entity in August, suggesting that compliance alignment is achieved within a unified operational framework.

These comparisons underscore that while the “single platform” idea is spreading, implementations can differ. The key variable is how an exchange ties a unified front-end to jurisdiction-appropriate regulatory responsibility—whether by assigning users to distinct providers behind the scenes or by applying compliance processes localized to each customer’s jurisdiction.

What users should watch after the consolidation

HashKey’s transition to a single application across multiple regions raises questions that matter most to customers: how onboarding flows will change, how jurisdiction-specific feature access will be reflected in the user experience, and whether account management will remain seamless when users interact with region-specific compliance requirements.

For regulators and industry observers, the merger is also a useful test case for whether exchanges can maintain strong compliance controls while consolidating products and codebases—an approach that could become more attractive as regulatory regimes mature and operational efficiency becomes a competitive differentiator.

Readers should watch for further details on the rollout mechanics, such as how HashKey handles user migration from previously separate platforms and how the unified app communicates jurisdiction-dependent limitations, if any. As the exchange environment continues to tighten, the ability to centralize the user interface without diluting regulatory obligations will likely be a key measure of operational readiness.