Robinhood Chain is clearing more than $800 million in daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume two weeks after launch, with meme coins doing most of the lifting. Artemis CEO Jon Ma warns that the network’s biggest strength could become its biggest liability.

The layer-2 network runs on Arbitrum, handling trades faster and cheaper than Ethereum itself. It launched July 1 to host tokenized stocks and real-world assets (RWA), yet speculative tokens have dominated early trading.

Meme Coins Drive Robinhood Chain’s Early DEX Volume

DefiLlama recorded roughly $819 million in 24-hour DEX volume on Tuesday and $3.9 billion for the week. That figure measures the value of tokens changing hands on the chain each day. The network briefly passed Ethereum in volume on Monday before slipping back behind it.

Cash Cat (CASHCAT), a token built on Robinhood’s pre-launch internal name, holds a $156 million market cap, per CoinGecko. Thinner plays like Robin Hood (FOX) doubled in a day on a market cap near $2 million.

Ma runs Artemis, an on-chain analytics firm, and invested in Robinhood pre-IPO in 2019. In an open letter to CEO Vlad Tenev, he acknowledged the strong start.

He counted 300,000-plus daily active addresses, $40 million in annualized fees, and $300 million in total value locked (TVL).

Still, he argued memes account for most trading. He pointed to the 2024 meme coin class on Coinbase’s Base network, down 99% from peak by his count. He also recalled 2021, when GameStop mania forced Tenev to testify before Congress.

“But meme coins lose people money and destroy trust…PLEASE Robinhood DO NOT build a meme coin chain,” Ma cautioned.

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Supporters Bet on Liquidity First, Utility Later

Not everyone agrees. Analyst Miles Deutscher called Robinhood Chain one of the year’s most compelling crypto narratives.

Trader Bark argued the meme wave previews what happens when Robinhood’s retail base arrives onchain. Ma’s own letter puts that base at 27 million funded accounts.

“Tens of millions of people are one app update away from participating in memes for the first time.”

Arbitrum said the network earned over $800,000 in revenue in seven days, annualizing near $42 million. Its expansion program routes 10% of that to the Arbitrum (ARB) ecosystem, and ARB price gained 16% this week.

Ethereum, by contrast, captures almost none of that value, a split analysts already debate.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong backed positive-sum use cases in the debate, calling users and liquidity the strongest moat. Grayscale research similarly found the market now rewards fundamentals over meme speculation.

Whether meme coins prove a gateway or a distraction may become clearer once Robinhood connects its main app to the chain. Until then, the network’s loudest critics and its biggest fans are pointing at the same numbers.

The post Artemis Warns Robinhood Chain’s Biggest Success May Also Be Its Greatest Risk appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Cardano’s largest holders have been increasing their exposure even as smaller investors reduce theirs, according to Santiment’s latest supply distribution data.

Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA now collectively own more than 25.6 billion coins. The figure is the highest balance since February 2023. On the other hand, wallets holding fewer than 100 ADA have reduced their holdings by about 0.7% over the past four months.

Whales See Opportunity

Santiment said this trend comes as ADA faces intense FUD. The crypto asset’s price performance in 2026 fell short of expectations, and it recently traded near multi-year lows. Last week’s upside push toward $0.2 proved futile after ADA quickly pulled back. It slid to $0.15 and was down more than 11% over the past week. Despite that backdrop, major holders have continued accumulating.

The analytics firm pointed to several ongoing developments within the Cardano ecosystem, including work on the Leios testnet, continued Hydra scaling upgrades, progress on Mithril, integration of Pyth oracles, and new ecosystem funding initiatives.

These combined factors – whale and shark accumulation, declining retail participation, and persistently weak sentiment – represent one of the healthier market setups ADA has shown so far this year, although it does not necessarily signal an immediate price reversal.

String of Setbacks

2026 has been challenging for Cardano as the ecosystem has witnessed a series of setbacks. This month, EMURGO announced it was stepping down from the Cardano Pentad, the network’s governance group, to focus its resources on helping users recover from the SecondFi exploit. One community member described the exit as worrying and speculated that the organization may have run out of funds following the SecondFi exploit.

Earlier in the year, analytics platform TapTools shut down, while the planned 2026 Singapore Summit was called off. During the same period, Charles Hoskinson also warned that a “wave of failures” could hit DeFi projects built on the network. The developments came even as the ecosystem continued pushing ahead with technical upgrades behind the scenes.

The post Whales Keep Loading Up on Cardano While Retail Dumps ADA appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Binance has marked its ninth anniversary by highlighting strong user growth and expanding beyond digital assets into traditional financial products. The exchange now reports 323 million registered users across more than 100 countries, reflecting its growing global presence.

The scale of that user base becomes clearer when placed in the context of global cryptocurrency adoption. According to the firm’s report, its users represent about 43% of the estimated 741 million people worldwide who currently own cryptocurrency. Notably, this compares with a global crypto user population of fewer than six million when Binance launched in July 2017.

User Growth and Trading Activity

Registered users on Binance grew by another 7% during the first half of 2026 despite mixed market conditions. The company also reported a 9% rise in institutional users over the same period, pointing to continued participation from larger market players.

This growth in user activity was accompanied by higher trading volumes. Binance’s cumulative trading volume reached $156 trillion after adding $11.4 trillion during the first six months of the year. That pushed total trading activity 7.8% above the level recorded at the end of 2025.

Expansion Into Traditional Financial Products

The exchange also reported steady activity outside its crypto business through newer financial products. Monthly trading volume for its traditional finance offerings has remained above $80 billion since March, according to the company.

One of the latest additions to that business is direct stock trading, which Binance introduced in June as part of its broader financial services strategy. The product reached $1 billion in assets under management within 30 days and generated more than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume.

The company’s tokenized U.S. equities, known as bStocks, also recorded early growth after launch. Binance said the offering reached $100 million in assets under management within two weeks, while 47% of trading activity occurred outside regular U.S. market hours.

Co-CEOs Yi He and Richard Teng said the company aims to serve both retail users and institutional participants through a wider range of financial products. They added that recent launches, including stocks and tokenized assets, support Binance’s goal of improving access to global markets.

To celebrate the milestone, Binance launched a community campaign called “Built by You,” featuring up to $4.5 million in rewards and an interactive virtual experience. The anniversary comes as regulatory frameworks continue to evolve in major markets and institutional participation in digital assets remains a key industry trend.

The post Binance Marks Ninth Anniversary With 323 Million Users and Expansion Beyond Crypto appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Retail traders are piling into XRP and ether while both tokens slip, the kind of crowd behavior that more often precedes further downside than a bounce.

XRP drew 3.02 bullish social media comments for every bearish one on Monday, its most positive reading in five weeks, according to Santiment. Ether ran at 2.31 and bitcoin at 1.40, which the firm classified as neutral. Bitcoin and ether both opened higher and faded through the day, so the loudest enthusiasm is landing on the assets that are falling.

Sentiment readings like these are used as contrarian signals, because crowd excitement usually peaks near local tops.

“Crypto typically moves opposite to what the crowd is loudly expecting,” Santiment wrote, adding that heavy bullishness on XRP or ether while prices dip can add short-term downside risk or slow any rebound.

Bitcoin’s flat reading is the healthier one, meanwhile. Retail chasing the smaller tokens while staying neutral on bitcoin is narrow speculation, not broad greed, and rallies have more room when the crowd hasn’t already crowded into the higher-prices trade. XRP traded near $1.09 on Monday, down on the week.

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The European Central Bank (ECB) has enlisted 36 payment firms to test the digital euro, its answer to the dollar stablecoins spreading through European payments. The central bank named the pilot group on Tuesday, July 14.

Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, and Revolut lead a roster that also includes US-based Stripe and European processors Adyen, SumUp, and Worldline.

A Digital Euro Pilot Built to Counter Dollar Stablecoins

Brussels frames the project as monetary sovereignty. ECB President Christine Lagarde has rejected euro stablecoin proposals, arguing a public digital currency should fill the role instead. The central bank has also warned about deposit risks from expanding private euro tokens.

The mismatch is stark. Dollar-pegged tokens account for nearly all of the $306 billion stablecoin market, per CoinGecko data. Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) alone hold a combined 84%. Circle’s EURC, the largest euro-pegged token, circulates about $424 million, over 400 times smaller than USDT.

Notably, Tuesday’s announcement avoids naming stablecoins, framing the pilot around testing and user experience. The confrontation reading comes from Lagarde and other officials, who cast the project as protection for Europe’s monetary autonomy. The roster itself carries some irony, with US-based Stripe testing Europe’s independence project.

MiCA has already redrawn the field. Revolut, one of the 36, recently moved to delist USDT in Europe after Tether skipped authorization. The MiCA transition period ended this month, closing the EU market to unlicensed platforms.

What the 36 Firms Will Test From 2027

The pilot begins in the second half of 2027 and runs for 12 months. More than 50 firms applied for the 36 slots. According to the pilot framework, participants will test a beta digital euro in person-to-person, in-store, and e-commerce payments.

The exercise spans the ECB and 19 euro-area central banks. The beta currency will mirror the final product technically but will carry no legal tender status.

“Staff at participating central banks will have the opportunity to make beta digital euro payments from person to person (both online and offline) and from person to business (both at the physical point of sale, including Software Point of Sale, and via e-commerce, including mobile payments),” The ECB confirmed this in its Tuesday statement.

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The politics moved first. Parliament approved final negotiations in a 416-169 vote on July 9, and talks with member states and the Commission opened Monday.

Negotiators led by Spanish MEP Fernando Navarrete aim to finish the law this year. That would keep potential issuance on track for 2029.

For consumers, nothing changes before 2027. If the project reaches issuance, Europeans would hold central bank money in digital form, spendable in shops and online like cash.

After five years of study, the pilot will show whether public digital money can match the convenience that made dollar stablecoins the default.

Critics still argue the EU’s digital euro plan could hand advantages to US firms. The 169 votes against suggest the fight is not over.

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The post ECB Picks Revolut, Stripe, and 34 Others to Test the Digital Euro appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Ripple’s cross-border token remains one of the most talked-about topics in the crypto space, but analysts have recently split into two distinct camps.

On one side, we have people calling for the end of the bear market and a price explosion toward new historical peaks, and on the other, pundits who believe XRP may drop well below $1 in the near future.

The Bearish Scenario

As of press time, the asset is worth around $1.07, which means a 5% plunge over the past week. According to X user Diana, losing the $1.08 support may result in a final shakeout to much lower levels.

She believes the next move could be a sell-off toward the $0.90-$0.93 liquidity zone, followed by a relief bounce above $1 and an ultimate flush into the $0.87 macro support, which is expected to complete the entire correction and set the stage for the next major expansion.

Cryptorphic also paid attention to $1.08, which remains strong resistance, indicating that the current structure favors sellers and could lead to further declines.

Some factors also suggest that the price of Ripple’s native token may head further south in the short term. As CryptoPotato reported, positive online posts about XRP have surged recently, with FOMO rising to a multi-month high. This may sound optimistic, but the cryptocurrency market is a weird one and often moves against the crowd’s expectations.

Another worrying element is the waning interest in spot XRP ETFs. Up until the beginning of July, the inflows consistently surpassed outflows, yet in recent weeks, pension funds, hedge funds, and other conservative investors started reducing their exposure to the asset, forcing Bitwise, Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and Grayscale to sell XRP to maintain the proper backing of the shares.

The Bulls Are Also Vocal

The XRP Army has a reputation for strong loyalty and consistent support for Ripple’s cryptocurrency, even in challenging times. That said, it is no surprise that some market observers continue to foresee fresh all-time highs.

Not long ago, X user Crypto Patel claimed that the asset is repeating a macro pattern that has previously led to 1,000%+ rallies. In their view, history suggests another expansion phase that could push the price to a new peak above $9.

Celal Kucuker is also highly optimistic, reminding XRP’s monthly rise by 500% two years ago. “Now people say $7 by year-end is impossible… yet there are still 6 months left. Never underestimate what Ripple can do,” they added.

Of course, expectations should remain tempered given the extended bear market gripping the crypto space. One should also know that such high price levels for XRP would require its market capitalization to skyrocket above $350 billion, and that seems far-fetched (to say the least) as of the moment.

The post Ripple (XRP) Tests a Key Support Level: Final Shakeout to $0.87 Now Beginning? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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