Standard Chartered has become the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) to offer institutional clients direct access to USDC minting and redemption, through a partnership with issuer Circle announced on July 2.

Eligible clients can convert dollars to USDC and back inside their existing banking relationship, with no separate Circle accounts required. However, the launch covers Dubai only, and a rival bank rolled out similar services three days earlier.

Standard Chartered USDC Access Starts in Dubai

The capability, developed with Circle, runs through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) operations.

It gives institutions a single onboarding route into USDC, which commands a $73.2 billion market cap.

Standard Chartered says the service supports on-chain settlement, treasury operations, and liquidity management, with payment use cases planned later. Expansion into additional markets depends on regulatory approvals and market readiness.

“Digital assets are becoming an increasingly important component of global financial infrastructure, and institutional clients are seeking the same levels of trust and governance that underpin traditional markets,” Roberto Hoornweg, CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking at Standard Chartered, said in the announcement.

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The relationship runs deeper than one launch. Standard Chartered has helped design the Circle Payments Network since April 2025, alongside Santander, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale.

This week, the bank also initiated coverage of the DeFi lending protocol Morpho.

Rivals are Already Moving on USDC

It is imperative to note, however, that Standard Chartered is not the first. On June 29, BNY enabled clients to mint, redeem, and hold USDC through its Digital Asset Custody platform.

BNY is no fringe player. It custodies USDC’s reserves and oversees $59.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration.

More may follow. BNY says it plans to add further stablecoin issuers over time, while Standard Chartered cites growing demand from institutions and corporations for regulated stablecoin infrastructure.

Circle, meanwhile, has its own reasons to court bank partners. Its stock fell 15% last week after 140 firms, including Visa and Coinbase, backed rival stablecoin Open USD.

Bank distribution hands USDC deeper institutional rails just as its enterprise lead comes under attack.

Regulation will set the pace. Circle kept its European listings under MiCA while Tether’s USDT exited, yet Standard Chartered’s global rollout still awaits approvals market by market.

Whether treasurers route real settlement flows through bank-issued USDC rather than pilots will determine how quickly the rest of the G-SIB pack moves.

The post Two Big Banks Adopt Circle’s USDC Stablecoin This Week appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Arm Holdings (ARM) stock is up 194% this year. However, it has stalled and slipped since mid-June, and big investors are quietly selling. The reason is simple. Arm is the chip stock most exposed to rising interest rates.

The next test comes on July 14, when new inflation data is due. A hot reading would push the Federal Reserve closer to a rate hike. And Arm has the most to lose.

Big Money Started Leaving in Mid-June

The clearest warning comes from money flow. Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), a proxy for institutional buying, peaked at 0.37 around June 15 and has since fallen to 0.01. In plain terms, big buyers nearly vanished.

Note: Arm is based in the United Kingdom, but its shares trade in New York in US dollars, so Federal Reserve rate moves drive it like any American chip stock.

The timing is not random. Inflation hit 4.2% for the year on June 10, the hottest in three years. Days later, on June 17, the Federal Reserve held rates but signaled it may raise them. More so, institutional money began leaving in the run-up to the June 17 Fed meeting.

Since then, markets have gone back to pricing hikes. Robin Brooks, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former chief economist at the IIF, says one number will set the tone.

Here is why that hits Arm (ARM) hardest. A hot inflation report makes the Fed more likely to raise interest rates. Higher rates make profits expected years from now worth less today. Arm is the priciest big chip stock, and most of its profits sit far in the future. Investors are paying mainly for growth from its AI chip designs in the coming years, not for the money it makes today.

That makes Arm the most rate-sensitive name in its sector. Its price tends to move in the opposite direction of interest rates, and by more than any other big chip stock.

So it falls more than the average chip when rate fears rise. When a major bank warned of up to three more hikes on June 23, Arm dropped over 10% in a day.

Options Traders Turned Defensive Too

The options market flashed the same signal. Arm’s put-call ratio compares bets on a fall against bets on a rise. On June 15, with Arm near $412, the volume ratio was 0.51, so traders still bought more calls than puts.

Yet the open interest ratio was already 1.22, meaning longer-standing bets leaned bearish.

By July 1, with Arm near $337, both had turned bearish. The volume ratio jumped to 1.75, and open interest sat at 1.17.

In short, traders went from hopeful to defensive as rate-hike talk grew louder. The ARM price chart tells the same story.

The ARM Stock Chart Confirms the Warning

The rally was already running on empty. From May 6 to June 30, Arm rose, but the buying volume behind each move kept shrinking.

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That weakness stalled Arm at about $362. The stock now trades near $337, just under the $340 level it needs to hold.

If it breaks lower, $303, then $298, come into view. Far deeper support sits near $198 if the selling speeds up. To turn things around, Arm must reclaim $362 with strong buying, which would pull money flow back up. The real line, though, is $399 (the $400 zone).

Above $400, ARM regains genuine strength. Below it, with a hot July 14 report threatening another rate scare, every bounce is likely to be sold. The $400 mark separates a fresh leg higher from more selling into every rally.

The post Why a Hot July CPI Print Could Hit This Semiconductor Chip Hard appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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[PRESS RELEASE – Victoria, Seychelles Islands, July 2nd, 2026]

Lizex.io, a rapidly growing instant cryptocurrency exchange platform, announces the full launch of its B2B partnership program targeting crypto wallets, exchangers, rate aggregators, and fintech products. The company is opening access to its infrastructure for business partners worldwide.

About the Partnership Program

Lizex.io provides partners with direct access to an API for cryptocurrency exchange, offering aggregated liquidity across 5,000+ coins, including BTC, ETH, XMR, USDT, SOL, BNB, and other major assets. Integration takes just a few hours, backed by dedicated 24/7 technical support.

Lizex.io acts as a liquidity layer for both crypto wallets and aggregators, delivering a continuous stream of competitive quotes and instant order execution on the partner’s side. This allows B2B clients to offer their users best-in-class exchange rates without having to independently aggregate liquidity sources.

Key features for B2B partners:

• Access to 5,000+ crypto coins with deep aggregated liquidity
• Fixed and floating exchange rates at the partner’s discretion
• White-label integration: no Lizex.io branding in the partner’s interface
• Competitive revenue share of up to 60% of transaction fees
• Embeddable widget requiring no development from scratch
• Full transparency: all fees are displayed before transaction confirmation

Market & Positioning

According to the company, in the first six months of 2026, the volume of exchange transactions via the Lizex.io API exceeded $380 million. The platform currently serves more than 40 active B2B partners across 20 countries, with an average swap completion time under 4 minutes.

Lizex.io positions itself as a reliable liquidity backbone for the crypto ecosystem — an alternative to building in-house exchange infrastructure for services looking to add swap functionality without high operational costs.

How to Become a Partner

Companies interested in joining the Lizex.io B2B program can apply via the official website at lizex.io or contact the partnership team directly. A first response is guaranteed within 24 hours.

About Lizex.io

Lizex.io is a non-custodial instant cryptocurrency exchange platform operating since 2024. The service enables fast, secure, and private transactions with no registration required. Lizex.io offers both a retail interface for end users and B2B infrastructure for business clients, including API access, embeddable widgets, and white-label solutions.

Website: https://lizex.io

Telegram: https://t.me/Lizex_Partnership

The post Lizex.io Launches Large-Scale B2B Partnership Program for Crypto Services appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Circle is facing one of its biggest challenges following the announcement of Open USD (OUSD), a new stablecoin backed by major financial and payments companies, including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, BlackRock, and Coinbase.

As speculation grew over what the new initiative could mean for USDC, Circle’s stock came under pressure. It has fallen about 12.7% over the past five trading days.

While incumbents still control the vast majority of the market, industry experts believe OUSD could significantly reshape the competitive landscape.

OUSD vs. USDC

In a conversation with CryptoPotato, Alex Witt, General Partner at Verda Ventures, said that “distribution is king” and value will accrue to built-in distribution networks. He explained,

“Circle, unlike Tether, does not own its primary distribution channels, as evidenced by Circle sharing 90% of USDC reserve yield with Hyperliquid, demonstrating its weak competitive position.”

As a result, Witt believes OUSD could “dramatically erode” the company’s first-mover advantage.

Meanwhile, Trace Finance co-founder and CEO Bernardo Brites described Open USD as “a real structural break” in the stablecoin market.

He said markets read the announcement as a direct threat to Circle, but also noted that skeptics have flagged real execution risks, including bootstrapping liquidity from zero, the lack of trading pairs against major crypto assets, governance friction from coordinating many stakeholders, and a thin fee model that could leave OUSD under-resourced.

Even so, Brites argued that Open USD’s consortium is “bigger than anything the USDG consortium assembled,” referring to the consortium behind Paxos-issued USDG.

“Getting the major card networks, processors like Adyen, and banks like BNY and Cross River behind a single stablecoin is unprecedented. Distribution has always been the hardest problem in stablecoins, and OUSD is launching with more of it than any issuer before.”

Allaire: OUSD’s Model Could ‘Starve an Infrastructure’

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, however, pushed back against many of the arguments made in favor of the new stablecoin. In a tweet, Allaire said that stablecoin networks are platform and network effect businesses that tend towards “winner-take-most market structures,” while suggesting that years of network building matter more than newly announced consortia.

Responding to OUSD’s revenue-sharing model, the exec said Circle already shares the majority of its income with distribution partners, and added that “giving away all the income is a recipe for starving an infrastructure.” He also remains skeptical of OUSD’s governance model and argued that the track record of consortium products achieving scale, product-market fit, or even basic product agility is “absolutely dismal.”

“We actually tried this in the early days of USDC, and even with a very small group, ran into endless challenges and complexity.”

While acknowledging the new entrant, Allaire said Circle’s partnership with Coinbase “remains as strong as ever” and went on to say that he expects many of OUSD’s founding members to remain USDC partners and customers.

The post Can Circle Defend Its Stablecoin Lead Against OpenUSD? Experts Weigh In appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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While Ethereum’s overall market structure is still dominated by the sellers, recent price action suggests sellers may be losing momentum after the market was held by the $1.5K support region twice. The emergence of a potential double bottom and improving short-term momentum could pave the way for a relief rally if buyers reclaim the next resistance cluster.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, ETH is still trading within the same long-term descending channel that has remained intact for months, with both the long-term moving averages sloping lower just above the channel’s higher boundary. The price remains well below the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which are currently positioned around the $2K to $2.2K region, confirming that the macro trend is still bearish.

After the sharp sell-off a few weeks ago, the cryptocurrency found strong demand inside the $1.5K support zone. The price has now tested this area twice, raising the possibility of a double-bottom formation. Although the pattern is not confirmed yet, the repeated defense of this support suggests that bearish momentum is fading.

The RSI has also recovered from near-oversold conditions and is gradually pushing higher toward the midline, indicating improving momentum without reaching overbought territory.

For the bullish scenario to gain credibility, ETH needs to reclaim the $1.8K resistance zone to validate the double bottom setup. A successful move above that level would also expose the next major supply area around $2K to $2.2K, where the 100-day and 200-day moving averages converge.

Conversely, losing the $1.5K support zone could likely prove catastrophic, as it would invalidate the potential reversal structure and likely trigger a deeper leg lower within the broader downtrend.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart presents a clearer short-term picture. The price has built liquidity beneath the $1.5K lows, as buyers stepped back into the market, preventing a lower low. This demand is gradually pushing ETH toward the first area of overhead supply.

The price is currently approaching a key fair value gap at approximately $1.7k. This imbalance coincides with the latest bearish impulse and is likely to attract selling interest. A decisive breakout above this zone would signal improving short-term strength and could open the path toward the $1.85K resistance.

Momentum has also noticeably improved on the lower timeframe, with the RSI climbing toward bullish territory while printing higher lows alongside price. This suggests buyers have regained some control after the recent rebound.

However, unless ETH successfully clears the fair value gap and establishes higher highs, the current advance could still develop into nothing more than a corrective rally within the larger bearish trend.

Sentiment Analysis

The distribution of open interest in options contracts shows that the largest concentration is positioned around the late December 2026 expiry, where call open interest significantly outweighs put open interest. Several other major expiries, including late September and late July, also display a clear dominance of call positioning.

This skew toward call options suggests that derivatives participants continue positioning for higher prices over the medium to long term despite Ethereum’s recent weakness. At the same time, the substantial notional value concentrated around the larger expiries indicates that these dates could become important volatility catalysts as expiration approaches.

While options positioning alone does not guarantee a bullish outcome, the current distribution reflects a market that still maintains longer-term upside expectations even as spot price remains trapped below major technical resistance. If ETH confirms the developing double-bottom structure and breaks above the nearby resistance cluster, the optimistic options positioning could provide additional tailwinds through improved market sentiment.

The post Ethereum Eyes Relief Rally as Double Bottom Forms Near $1.5K (ETH Price Analysis) appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Pi Coin price has edged higher after Pi Network introduced three ecosystem upgrades, while buyers stepped in following the token’s fresh all-time low and a broader crypto market rebound lifted sentiment.

Summary

• Pi Coin edged higher after Pi Network launched SoloHost, Pi Sign-In, and PiVerify during its Pi2Day event.
• A rebound from oversold conditions lifted PI, but a potential bearish flag continues to weigh on the short-term outlook.
• Large monthly token unlocks and limited exchange listings remain the biggest obstacles to a sustained recovery.

According to data from crypto.news, PI price traded near $0.115 on July 2, up around 0.5% over the past 24 hours after the Pi Core Team unveiled SoloHost, Pi Sign-In, and PiVerify during the Pi2Day event. The move also came as derivatives activity improved, with open interest climbing back above $20 million after falling during last week’s selloff.

Pi2Day 2026 reflects how Pi’s utility continues to grow through infrastructure and participation.

– Through SoloHost, Pi Desktop and Nodes can support new local AI app and compute use cases
– Pi Sign-in can help connect those experiences across users, devices, and services
-…

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— Pi Network (@PiCoreTeam) July 1, 2026

Pi Network said SoloHost allows developers to build AI-powered applications on its infrastructure, while Pi Sign-In offers a unified authentication system for decentralized applications. PiVerify gives third-party businesses access to Pi’s network of more than 18 million KYC-verified users, creating an additional use case that requires developers and businesses to interact with the ecosystem.

At the same time, macro conditions favored risk assets. Bitcoin climbed back above $61,000 and briefly traded beyond $62,000 after weaker-than-expected U.S. June jobs data strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates later this year. The rally added roughly $50 billion to the total crypto market capitalization and helped several altcoins post intraday gains alongside PI.

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Oversold bounce meets bearish chart structure

PI’s latest uptick followed a sharp decline that pushed the token to a fresh all-time low near $0.1141 on July 1. The daily Relative Strength Index dropped to around 27 before buyers returned, giving the token a foothold around the $0.115 support zone.

The 4-hour chart, however, continues to favor sellers. PI has formed what appears to be a potential bearish flag, with price moving inside a narrow ascending channel after the steep decline from roughly $0.132. A descending trendline has rejected every recovery attempt since late June, while the Supertrend indicator remains above price near $0.121.

The MACD has started to improve, with the histogram returning above zero and the MACD lines curling upward. Buyers still need to reclaim several resistance levels before the short-term structure changes. Fibonacci retracement levels place the first barriers near $0.116, $0.120, and $0.123, while a move above the descending trendline and Supertrend would weaken the bearish setup.

Token unlocks remain the biggest downside risk

Supply pressure continues to overshadow the network’s new utility releases. PiScan data shows between 76 million and 149 million PI tokens are scheduled to unlock during rolling 30-day periods, while more than 1.7 billion tokens are expected to enter circulation over the next 12 months.

The steady increase in liquid supply has consistently outpaced demand and remains the main reason PI continues to trade near record lows. Liquidity also remains limited because Binance, Coinbase, and Bybit have yet to list the token.

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A breakdown below the lower boundary of the four-hour bearish flag and the recent $0.111 low would strengthen the bearish case and expose fresh all-time lows.

On the upside, sustained buying above $0.120-$0.121, supported by growing adoption of SoloHost, Pi Sign-In, and PiVerify, would invalidate the current bearish pattern and open the door for a recovery toward $0.123-$0.125.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

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Ondo Finance is adding shareholder voting rights to its tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through a partnership with financial infrastructure provider Broadridge, addressing one of the key limitations of blockchain-based securities.

The companies announced Thursday that holders of more than 250 tokenized securities issued through Ondo will be able to participate in proxy voting and access corporate communications, including regulatory filings and other shareholder documents.

The integration uses a Web3-enabled version of Broadridge’s investor communications platform, allowing users to authenticate with blockchain wallets while accessing governance services typically reserved for shareholders in traditional markets.

The move comes as tokenized equities gain momentum among digital asset companies seeking to bring conventional financial products onchain. While tokenization promises faster settlement and around-the-clock trading, questions have remained over whether investors would receive the governance rights that accompany traditional direct stock ownership.

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Source: Ondo Finance

Ondo said the governance features will accompany the launch of its first US custodial tokenized securities, including tokenized versions of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU). The company said the assets are the first issued under the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s third-party custodial framework for tokenized securities.

Related: Blockchain.com deepens onchain stock offerings as tokenized equities market grows

Competition heats up in tokenized equities

The market for tokenized stocks has expanded rapidly this year, as its total value first surpassed $1 billion in March, according to Foresight Ventures. Data published by Ondo on Wednesday showed the market has since grown to $1.67 billion, with nearly 181,000 unique holders.

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Ondo is one of several companies competing for a share of the fast-growing market. Backed Finance, which issues tokenized stocks through its xStocks platform, has also expanded its footprint, with its products now available across multiple crypto exchanges and blockchain networks.

The market for tokenized stocks has grown nearly 14-fold since May 2025. Source: Ondo Finance

Tokenization has emerged as one of crypto’s fastest-growing sectors in 2026, defying broader market weakness. A recent 21shares report attributed the trend to rising institutional adoption and improving infrastructure. Separate data from Binance showed the value of tokenized real-world assets, including stocks, has surged nearly 600% over the past year.

Related: Crypto Biz: The cost of stacking sats

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