Crypto World
Japan Retail Trial Uses Stablecoin Payments as Lawson and Netstars Expand
Japanese payments adoption is moving from small pilots toward more practical, merchant-ready stablecoin use. Lawson, one of Japan’s best-known convenience-store chains, will trial yen-denominated stablecoin payments inside a real store checkout flow this August, while Netstars has launched a service that lets merchants accept multiple stablecoins as payment options.
Together, the two developments highlight how Japan’s regulated stablecoin environment is increasingly focused on integration details—how payments happen at the register, how merchants settle in yen, and what wallet or infrastructure customers need.
Key takeaways
- Lawson will run an August trial of yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a Tokyo location, using HashPort’s non-custodial wallet and Lawson’s existing point-of-sale system.
- The Lawson pilot is designed to test whether stablecoins can fit smoothly into standard convenience-store checkout operations without merchants managing crypto wallets.
- Netstars launched “Stablecoin Pay” for merchants, initially supporting USDC, USDT, and JPYC via the Solana and Polygon networks.
- Netstars says its setup helps merchants price and settle in yen while customers pay with dollar-denominated stablecoins, aiming to reduce crypto and exchange-rate handling for merchants.
Lawson and HashPort test stablecoin checkout in a real store
On Monday, blockchain company HashPort said it has signed an agreement with Lawson and telecom group KDDI to conduct a trial at the Lawson Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. According to HashPort’s announcement on PRTimes, participants will use HashPort’s non-custodial wallet, while the store will process payments through HashPort’s point-of-sale integration—without the store needing to open or manage crypto wallets.
The stated goal is practical: determine how stablecoin payments can be integrated into Japan’s everyday retail infrastructure, specifically within the checkout flow of a convenience store. That matters because “accepting crypto” can look very different at the register compared with an online checkout, especially when merchants want predictable operations and minimal changes to store systems.
Before expanding beyond the pilot, the companies plan to evaluate integration requirements, checkout operations, payment processing times, and whether the wallet experience is usable for customers. The emphasis on operational metrics suggests the trial is as much about systems fit as it is about payment settlement.
Netstars rolls out a merchant service for multi-stablecoin payments
In a separate move, Netstars launched a merchant-facing product called Stablecoin Pay. The company’s announcement, also published on PRTimes, opens applications for merchants that want to offer multiple stablecoins as payment options.
Stablecoin Pay initially supports three stablecoins: USDC, USDT, and JPYC (a yen-denominated stablecoin). Netstars says these can be used through the Solana and Polygon networks, with MetaMask as the supported wallet. The company set its merchant payment fee at 0.98% and said it plans to add more wallet and blockchain support over time.
Netstars also described how the service is intended to work from a merchant operations perspective. It says that merchants can use existing payment terminals in most cases and manage product pricing, sales records, and settlement in yen even when customers pay with dollar-denominated stablecoins. In its framing, that reduces the need for merchants to hold crypto or handle exchange-rate complexity.
Netstars’ timeline also matters for context. The company’s commercial launch follows earlier trials it ran using USDC payments—first at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January to February, and later at a trading-card store in Himeji starting in April, according to Netstars’ trial references. The new merchant service marks a step from location-based tests toward a broader offer aimed at business operators.
Japan’s stablecoin rules are shaping real-world product design
Both projects land in the context of Japan’s evolving stablecoin regulatory landscape. Japan introduced a dedicated stablecoin framework on June 1, 2023, when amendments to the Payment Services Act and related laws took effect. The framework created regulatory categories for fiat-linked stablecoins and requires intermediaries operating in certain capacities to register with Japan’s Financial Services Agency.
Subsequent regulatory milestones have helped specific stablecoin products become usable in Japan. Coverage noted that USDC received regulatory approval for distribution in March 2025. JPYC later registered as a fund transfer service provider that August—before the stablecoin launched in October, based on prior reporting.
For merchants and payment providers, the practical takeaway is that regulatory compliance increasingly informs product architecture. Netstars’ approach—settling in yen while accepting multiple stablecoins—reflects a design choice that keeps everyday commerce consistent for retailers. HashPort and Lawson’s trial similarly focuses on minimizing merchant operational burden by routing payment processing through an integrated point-of-sale flow and using a non-custodial customer wallet.
What to watch next for stablecoin payments in Japan
As these trials and merchant products progress, the key uncertainties are less about whether stablecoins can be transferred and more about whether the entire user-and-merchant workflow feels seamless. For Lawson’s pilot, readers should watch reported integration and checkout performance metrics—especially usability and processing time. For Netstars’ Stablecoin Pay, monitoring merchant onboarding, additional supported wallets and blockchains, and continued evidence of smooth yen settlement will indicate whether multi-stablecoin payments can scale beyond early pilots.
NextDecade Corporation (NEXT) has quietly recovered toward $8 while the market fixates on the Strait of Hormuz. The reason is a building gas supply shock, and this overlooked LNG stock sits directly in its path.
Most investors are trading the crisis through oil tankers. That trade, however, is already crowded. The longer prize, by contrast, sits with American gas exporters.
What the Tanker Trade Misses
The tanker trade is simple. Investors buy the companies that own the ships hauling crude oil. When Hormuz turns dangerous, rerouting and war insurance push tanker rents higher, so those shares climb.
Want more insights like this? Sign up for Editor Harsh Notariya’s Daily Newsletter here.
That move, however, is late. Analysts at Evercore previously cut Frontline and DHT Holdings to hold, citing reversion risk. The easy money has likely gone. Even as the US-Iran standoff flares again, tanker rate spikes tend to fade fast.
The trade also misses the deeper wound. Iran’s strikes damaged close to 20% of Qatar’s liquefaction supply at Ras Laffan during early 2026. Unlike shipping delays, broken plants do not recover when a ceasefire holds.
Indeed, Iran’s navy closed the strait again on July 12. Tanker crossings have plunged to near 33 a day, versus about 130 before the war.
Why LNG Is the Real Prize
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is gas chilled into liquid form. That cooling shrinks its volume about 600 times, which lets tankers carry it across oceans.
Qatar is a top supplier, and about one fifth of the world’s LNG passes through Hormuz. As a result, buyers now scramble for supply from safer regions.
The United States fits that need. It is the biggest LNG exporter and sits an ocean away from Iran. Meanwhile, Shell expects global LNG demand to rise about 65% by 2050.
The Hidden LNG Stock Finds Footing
NextDecade is building the Rio Grande LNG plant in Brownsville, Texas. The site holds about 48 million tonnes of yearly capacity under development, with first cargoes due in early 2027.
That timing lands just as the shortage bites. The firm could become a top-four US exporter early next decade. In July, XRG, the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s state oil producer ADNOC, boosted its stake.
Wall Street, however, has barely moved. Citi set a Buy rating and an $11 target on May 13 and has not changed it since, showing how overlooked a stock NEXT is. That stale call predates the latest closure, so the case has strengthened while the number sat still.
Today, the stock trades near $7.99, roughly 40% below that target.
What the Money Flow and Options Signal
Money flow is turning. The Chaikin Money Flow fell from a mid-May peak to a June 18 low, then recovered to near minus 0.03.
The last time it crossed above zero, on April 30, the stock rose about 7% into mid-May. Another cross would repeat that signal, and price has already recovered while flow lags.
Options traders lean bullish too. Last week the put-call volume ratio sat near 0.27, with open interest near 0.21. Both low readings mean far more bets on gains than on losses.
Still, that can shift fast. NextDecade reports second-quarter results on July 30, which may confirm construction progress and new contracts.
Ultimately, the tanker trade priced the crisis in days, because shipping rates spike then fade. The LNG trade works on a longer clock. Qatar’s plants take years to rebuild, so buyers need new supply well into the decade.
That is why NextDecade matters. Its Texas plant starts shipping in 2027, just as that gap widens. Yet the market still values it like a pre-revenue project, which keeps this hidden LNG stock overlooked.
The post Forget the Tanker Trade, The Hormuz Crisis Points to One Overlooked LNG Stock appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Japanese retail and payments firms are taking the next step toward real-world stablecoin usage, with two separate developments aimed at easing the gap between crypto rails and everyday checkout flows.
Lawson will test yen-denominated stablecoin payments at a convenience-store location in Tokyo in August, while Netstars has launched a merchant service that lets businesses accept multiple stablecoins and settle in yen using existing terminals in many cases.
Key takeaways
- Lawson’s August trial with HashPort and KDDI targets in-store stablecoin checkout—designed to limit merchant operational burden.
- HashPort will provide a non-custodial wallet, with the store handling payment processing through its point-of-sale system.
- Netstars’ new Stablecoin Pay supports USDC, USDT, and JPYC initially, operating on Solana and Polygon with MetaMask.
- Netstars sets its merchant fee at 0.98% and says the service helps businesses settle in yen without managing exchange-rate complexity.
Lawson and HashPort set up a stablecoin trial inside Japan’s convenience-store flow
HashPort said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Lawson and telecom group KDDI to run a pilot at the Lawson Takanawa Gateway City store in Tokyo. The test will evaluate whether stablecoin payments can be integrated into a typical convenience-store checkout workflow.
According to HashPort, participants will use the company’s non-custodial wallet. At the same time, the store will process transactions through HashPort’s point-of-sale integration, with the intent of avoiding the need for the merchant to open or manage crypto wallets directly.
The stated goal of the pilot is practical: to examine the requirements for integration, how the checkout process behaves under real retail conditions, payment processing time, and whether the wallet experience is usable for participants.
For investors and builders, the emphasis on checkout operations matters. Many stablecoin pilots fail to progress because merchants see payment acceptance as adding new staff workflows, extra systems to manage, or operational uncertainty around settlement and verification. By focusing on how stablecoin payments behave at a standard POS checkout, the companies are effectively testing whether stablecoin payments can fit within existing retail infrastructure rather than replacing it.
Netstars launches Stablecoin Pay for merchants accepting multiple stablecoins
In a separate push, Netstars launched Stablecoin Pay on Monday and opened applications for merchants that want to offer stablecoins as payment options. Netstars positions the service as a way to broaden stablecoin acceptance beyond single-asset pilots and toward ongoing merchant operations.
Per Netstars, the initial rollout supports three stablecoins: USDC, USDT, and JPYC. The service will run over both the Solana and Polygon networks, and MetaMask is listed as the supported wallet for the payment flow.
Netstars set the merchant payment fee at 0.98% and said it plans to expand wallet and blockchain support over time.
A key part of Netstars’ pitch is how merchants handle pricing and records. The company says merchants can use existing payment terminals in most cases and manage product pricing, sales records, and settlement in yen even if customers pay with dollar-denominated stablecoins. Netstars also claims this reduces the need for merchants to hold crypto or actively manage exchange-rate mechanics.
From pilots to merchant services under Japan’s regulated stablecoin framework
Netstars’ product launch follows earlier trials carried out in Japan. The company previously tested in-store USDC payments at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from January to February, and later conducted trials at a trading-card store in Himeji starting in April. The move from limited testing environments to a merchant-facing service suggests Netstars believes operational learnings from those pilots are now mature enough to support broader commercial deployment.
These developments arrive as Japan’s stablecoin ecosystem continues to take shape under a dedicated regulatory approach. On June 1, 2023, Japan introduced a specific framework for stablecoins after amendments to the Payment Services Act and related laws took effect. The framework created regulatory categories for fiat-linked stablecoins and requires intermediaries to register with the Financial Services Agency.
The regulatory pathway has continued to expand: Cointelegraph previously reported regulatory approval for USDC distribution in March 2025. Separately, Cointelegraph noted JPYC’s registration as a fund transfer service provider in August of the same year—before JPYC launched in October, according to the reporting.
Against that backdrop, Lawson’s planned yen-stablecoin payment trial and Netstars’ multi-stablecoin merchant service reflect a broader pattern: Japanese firms are not only experimenting with stablecoin payments, but also aligning them with existing retail systems and the compliance expectations created by Japan’s framework.
What to watch next
In the near term, the most important details will be how smoothly each trial handles real checkout conditions—especially payment processing time, the usability of non-custodial wallets in a retail setting, and whether merchants can keep yen settlement workflows simple as stablecoins diversify. Readers should also watch how Netstars expands wallet and network support after the initial USDC, USDT, and JPYC rollout.
HashPort announcement on the Lawson-KDDI stablecoin trial
Netstars announcement on Stablecoin Pay
Japan Financial Services Agency: stablecoin framework introduction (June 1, 2023)
Related Cointelegraph coverage (as referenced in the source)
Bitcoin is hovering near $63,000 after falling more than 1% since midnight UTC amid a wider wave of risk-off sentiment following the U.S. and Iran mutual airstrikes over the weekend.
Brent crude futures rose more than 3% to approach $79 a barrel as the renewed fighting raised concerns over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passageway. Higher energy prices add inflationary pressure and reduce the scope for easier monetary policy, a link that weighed on bitcoin during earlier oil shocks.
“This week, crypto markets will experience a ‘tug-of-war’ between macro and geopolitics,” Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Kula, told CoinDesk.
U.S. inflation data coming this week will shape interest-rate expectations, Dhillon said.
Still, spot bitcoin and ether ETFs just broke eight-week streaks of outflows, a sign of growing demand for the two largest cryptocurrencies.
Regulatory clarity may add further tailwinds, Dhillon noted, as the Clarity Act advances. While ethics provisions are still being discussed, “even incremental progress matters,” he said.
OKX will temporarily suspend USDC deposits and withdrawals on the Solana network on July 14 while it completes scheduled wallet maintenance.
Summary
- OKX will pause Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals while keeping related trading services fully operational.
- The suspension begins July 14 at 14:30 UTC+8 and resumes after maintenance without separate announcement.
- Solana remains a major USDC settlement network despite this short exchange-level maintenance window for users.
The pause will begin at 14:30 UTC+8, equal to 06:30 UTC and 09:30 East Africa Time. OKX published the notice on July 13 and did not provide a fixed completion time. The exchange said it will restore the two services after the work ends.
The change applies only to deposits and withdrawals of USDC through Solana. OKX said users who already hold the token in their accounts do not need to take action. Trading for related assets will continue during the maintenance period. Other supported USDC networks were not included in the notice, so the announcement does not describe a platform-wide USDC suspension.
OKX also advised traders to consider risks in margin and derivatives markets and add margin early where needed. That guidance matters for users who move USDC through Solana to fund positions. The notice does not promise that deposit networks will remain available in every region, so customers should rely on the options shown in their accounts.
Users should avoid transfers during the pause
OKX asked customers not to send or withdraw Solana-based USDC after the maintenance window opens. The exchange warned that transfers made during the pause could create a risk of lost funds. Users should check the selected network before confirming any transaction, because USDC exists on several blockchains and each network uses a different deposit route.
Users should allow time for blockchain confirmations before the cutoff, since a transfer initiated earlier may arrive after the suspension begins.
The company described the work only as “wallet maintenance.” It did not report a hack, a Solana network outage, or a problem with USDC. OKX also said “trading will not be affected,” although that statement covers exchange trading rather than external transfers. The exchange did not explain whether pending transactions submitted before the cutoff could face delays.
Solana remains a major USDC settlement network
USDC on Solana is a native version of Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin rather than a wrapped token issued by another bridge provider. Circle lists Solana among the networks where it directly issues USDC. Its cross-chain tools can also burn native USDC on one supported network and mint the same amount on another, without using wrapped copies or outside liquidity pools.
As crypto.news reported earlier in 2026, Circle minted more than $10.5 billion in USDC on Solana within roughly one month. The same coverage cited about $650 billion in Solana stablecoin settlement volume during February. Those figures show the network’s large role in dollar-denominated transfers, but they do not indicate that OKX’s maintenance pause resulted from higher usage.
Exchange notice does not signal a Solana shutdown
Solana has also attracted more payment and financial infrastructure. As previously reported, the Solana Foundation launched an institutional developer platform with Mastercard, Western Union and Worldpay as early users. The tools cover stablecoin issuance, payments and trading services. That expansion increases the need for exchanges and custodians to maintain reliable wallet systems as transaction routes grow.
The OKX notice remains an exchange-level service update, not a suspension of USDC on the Solana blockchain. Users can still trade supported assets inside OKX, but they should avoid Solana USDC deposits and withdrawals until the exchange restores access.
OKX said it may resume the services without another announcement, making the platform’s deposit page and status tools the main places to check before sending funds.
- Hyperliquid price holds above key support as traders watch the $61.92 level.
- Bitcoin’s move around $63,000 could shape HYPE’s next direction.
- Hyperliquid’s total open interest has climbed to nearly $11 billion.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) has entered a crucial phase after retreating from its recent record high, with traders closely watching whether the token can stabilise above key support levels.
The latest pullback comes as broader cryptocurrency markets react to rising geopolitical tensions, leaving Bitcoin’s next move at the centre of attention.
However, while HYPE has lost momentum over the past week, the network continues to post strong trading activity, creating an interesting contrast between short-term price action and underlying platform growth.
Hyperliquid price tests support after weekly decline
HYPE is trading around $65, down 7.0% over the past seven days after reaching an all-time high of $76.87 on June 16.
The correction has pushed the token toward an important support area between $64 and $65, where buyers have started defending prices.
The next few trading sessions could prove decisive.
If the Hyperliquid price manages to reclaim $67 with stronger buying volume, the token could make another attempt at the $70 level.
However, a failure to hold the current support zone would shift attention to $61.92, which has emerged as the next major technical floor.
A break below $61.92 could expose the token to additional downside, with $60 becoming the next area traders are likely to monitor.
Bitcoin remains one of the biggest external factors influencing that outlook.
The broader market has been under pressure following renewed geopolitical uncertainty, and Bitcoin’s ability to remain above $63,000 is viewed as an important signal for risk assets across the cryptocurrency market.
If Bitcoin maintains above $63,000, it could provide enough stability for HYPE to consolidate. A move below it, on the other hand, could trigger another wave of selling across altcoins.
Technical indicators point to mixed short-term momentum
The latest technical indicators suggest that HYPE has not yet established a clear directional trend despite the recent correction.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) currently stands at 47.99, placing it in neutral territory.
This indicates that the token is neither overbought nor oversold, leaving room for either buyers or sellers to take control depending on broader market conditions.
Exponential moving averages paint a more constructive picture over a longer timeframe.
HYPE continues to trade above its 50-day, 100-day and 200-day exponential moving averages (EMAs), signalling that the broader uptrend remains intact despite the recent decline.
At the same time, the token has dropped below its 10-day and 20-day EMAs, showing that short-term resistance remains in place before momentum can fully recover.
This combination of indicators suggests that while the long-term forecast remains positive, the near-term direction will depend on whether buyers can regain control around current price levels.
Hyperliquid platform activity continues to expand
Although HYPE has pulled back from its recent highs, activity on the Hyperliquid ecosystem continues to grow.
The protocol’s total value locked (TVL) stands at approximately $6.013 billion, reflecting continued capital committed to the platform.
At the same time, 24-hour trading volume remains close to $296 million, highlighting sustained market participation despite recent volatility.
Another notable development is the rapid growth in derivatives activity. Total open interest has climbed to roughly $11 billion, while real-world asset (RWA) perpetual contracts account for approximately $3.6 billion of that figure.
Real-world asset (RWA) open interest on Hyperliquid reached a new ATH of $3.6B
Total OI reached a new high for 2026 of $11B pic.twitter.com/FJyeuUq0ya
— Hyperliquid (@HyperliquidX) July 13, 2026
The increase shows that traders are expanding beyond crypto-native products into tokenised exposure linked to traditional financial assets.
The growth in RWA trading has become one of the defining trends for Hyperliquid during 2026, helping the platform attract additional trading activity even as digital asset prices experience short-term swings.
Key HYPE price levels to watch
The coming days are likely to be shaped by both technical price levels and broader market sentiment.
The first area to watch remains $64-$65, where buyers have so far attempted to defend support. If that zone holds and HYPE reclaims $67 on stronger volume, attention could quickly shift back toward $70.
On the downside, $61.92 has become the most important technical support. A sustained move below that level would increase the probability of a deeper correction toward $60, particularly if Bitcoin also loses support at $63,000.
For now, the Hyperliquid price finds itself at a pivotal point.
Short-term momentum has weakened following a 7% weekly decline, yet the broader technical structure remains constructive, while platform activity continues to reach new milestones.
Whether the token resumes its broader uptrend or extends its correction is likely to depend on Bitcoin’s next move and how traders respond around these key technical levels.
Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee flagged the ETH/BTC ratio as a market-wide signal on July 13, posting ahead of his WebX 2026 keynote in Tokyo that investors should watch the pair as a “signal of a revival of crypto.”
The ratio has climbed toward 0.0286 after rebounding from an early June low near 0.026, but that level has capped multiple recovery attempts and remains the immediate test for Lee’s thesis.
Lee’s July 13 post surfaced his thesis publicly at a moment when the ratio is showing its first sustained higher-low formation since the June floor. The Fundstrat founder has linked a rising ETH/BTC ratio to the mechanism through which Ethereum outperforms Bitcoin in the next leg of this cycle.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
The ETH/BTC Ratio Framework
Lee has linked Ethereum’s outlook to stablecoin growth, tokenized assets, and clearer U.S. regulatory frameworks as the fundamental drivers behind a potential ETH/BTC reversal.
Those remain forward-looking claims until the ratio itself confirms the move. The ratio currently sits near 0.0282, meaning it would need to rise substantially just to reach historically elevated levels.
There is also a contrast worth noting. A Fundstrat document that circulated earlier in 2026 reportedly projected a meaningful first-half correction, Bitcoin to the $60,000–$65,000 range, ETH to $1,800–$2,000, a range that essentially describes where both assets are trading now.
Lee’s public ETH/BTC framework and that internal downside model are not irreconcilable, the correction could be the base from which the ratio trade launches – but traders should register the gap between the firm’s cautious internal modeling and the bullish public thesis.
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Resistance at 0.0286 and What Breaks It
The ETH/BTC pair has formed higher lows since early June, but 0.0286 has acted as a ceiling through repeated tests. A clean move above that level could extend Ethereum’s relative rebound, according to the primary source analysis. A rejection at current levels puts support at 0.027 back in play, with the June floor near 0.026 as the downside reference.
The wider three-month trend still favors Bitcoin. ETH/BTC remains lower over that window despite the July bounce, reflecting dynamics that defined much of 2026: stronger Bitcoin ETF demand, weaker Ethereum fund flows, and competition from alternative layer-1 networks.
Those structural headwinds have not reversed, they have merely paused at a level where value buyers and ratio-watchers are becoming active.
On the ETF side, U.S. spot Ethereum funds returned to daily net inflows in early July after sustained pressure through June. BlackRock’s ETHA led the July 1 session with approximately $14.9 million in net inflows.
One positive day does not erase the June outflow pattern, and a sustained run of institutional demand will be required before fund flow data meaningfully reinforces Lee’s ratio thesis.
For context on Bitcoin’s current market structure and what ETH needs to overcome on a relative basis, the BTC dominance picture matters: CoinGecko placed Bitcoin’s market share near 56.2%, having eased from recent highs – a necessary but insufficient condition for broad altcoin outperformance.
Rotation Signal or Premature Call
The Altcoin Season Index has improved to around 58, below the 75 threshold conventionally used to define a full altcoin season. More large-cap altcoins have started outperforming Bitcoin over the trailing 90 days, but smaller tokens remain well below their 2025 peaks, and the index is tracking recovery, not confirmation of a broad rotation.
ETH staking has crossed 33% of supply, reducing the liquid float available for sale, a structural support factor, though not a near-term price catalyst on its own.
On the corporate side, BitMine, where Lee serves as chairman, a conflict worth flagging, reported an Ethereum treasury of 5.74 million ETH, equal to roughly 4.8% of circulating supply. Corporate accumulation at this scale removes sell-side pressure at the margin, but it also concentrates holder risk in ways the market has not fully priced.
Lee’s framing of the ETH/BTC ratio as a “signal of a revival of crypto” is precise in one important sense: if Ethereum begins outperforming Bitcoin on a sustained basis, it historically correlates with capital rotating down the risk curve into the broader crypto market. That dynamic is not yet underway.
The ratio needs to clear 0.0286 on a sustained basis before the revival narrative moves from thesis to tradeable trend. Until then, it remains a watched level on a pair that has disappointed ratio bulls for most of the past 18 months. Traders tracking the current Bitcoin and Ethereum price environment should treat Lee’s signal as a setup worth monitoring, not a confirmed entry.
Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit
The post Tom Lee Says Ethereum Crypto Is Set To Outperform Bitcoin appeared first on Cryptonews.
The cryptocurrency market will welcome a wave of tokens worth more than $660.8 million in the third week of July 2026. Major projects, including Connex (CONX), deBridge (DBR), and Arbitrum (ARB), will release previously locked supplies over the next seven days.
These unlocks could increase short-term volatility and influence price movements. So, here’s a breakdown of what to watch in each project.
1. Connex (CONX)
- Unlock Date: July 15
- Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 1.32 million CONX
- Released Supply: 91.24 million CONX
- Total supply: 100 million CONX
Connex is a permissionless, open, and collaborative Web3 professional network. The project integrates blockchain with networking, promoting transparency and fair value exchange among professionals in the digital economy. Holders can use CONX for payments and governance.
Connex will unlock 1.32 million CONX tokens into the market on July 15. Moreover, the supply is worth approximately $28.67 million. It represents 1.45% of the released supply.
The team will allocate around 822,500 CONX to the ecosystem. Furthermore, the community treasury will get 500,000 altcoins.
2. deBridge (DBR)
- Unlock Date: July 17
- Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 618.33 million DBR
- Released Supply: 5.41 Billion DBR
- Total supply: 10 billion DBR
deBridge is a non-custodial cross-chain protocol that enables seamless transfer of assets and data between blockchains. It uses a 0-TVL architecture, where competitive solvers provide on-demand liquidity instead of relying on shared pools.
The network will release 618.33 million tokens, valued at $10.13 million, on July 17. The tokens account for 11.43% of the released supply. The network will split the supply six ways.
The cliff unlock will release 191.67 million DBR to the ecosystem, while Core Contributors will receive 133.33 million DBR. Strategic Partners will gain 113.33 million DBR.
Both the deBridge Foundation and the Community & Launch category will each claim 83.33 million DBR. Lastly, validators will receive the smallest share of the unlock, taking 13.33 million DBR.
3. Arbitrum (ARB)
- Unlock Date: July 16
- Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 92.65 million ARB
- Released Supply: 5.63 billion ARB
- Total supply: 10 billion ARB
Arbitrum is a Layer-2 scaling solution built for Ethereum (ETH). It enhances transaction speed and reduces costs while maintaining the security of the Ethereum network.
The blockchain achieves this by utilizing ‘optimistic rollups,’ which process transactions off-chain and submit them to the Ethereum mainnet for validation.
On July 16, Arbitrum will unlock 92.65 million tokens into the market. The tokens are worth $8.53 million and represent 1.65% of the current released supply.
Arbitrum will award 56.13 million ARB from the unlocked supply to the team, future team, and advisors. Moreover, investors will gain 36.52 million tokens.
In addition to these, other prominent unlocks that investors can look out for in the third week of July include Starknet (STRK), Sei (SEI), and YZY (YZY), and more.
The post 3 Token Unlocks to Watch in the Third Week of July 2026 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
U.S.-Iran hostilities over Strait of Hormuz drag crypto lower after positive week: Crypto Markets Today
The crypto market pulled back during Asian and European hours on Monday, with bitcoin falling to $63,100 from above $64,300 at the weekly close at midnight UTC.
That’s a decline of about 1%. Steeper losses hit the altcoin market. Lighter (LIT) led the downside cascade, sliding 8% in its first major selloff since rallying by more than 200% over the past two months.
The exit from riskier assets was felt across equity markets, too. South Korea’s Kospi index lost 9.2% as SK Hynix, the memory-chip maker that went public in the U.S. on Friday, slumped 15%. Japan’s Nikkei and China’s SSE both fell more than 2%.
The drops reflected reignited tensions in the Middle East as Iran and the U.S. fought over control of the Strait of Hormuz, with both nations firing airstrikes against each other.
U.S. equities are also indicated to open lower, with Nasdaq 100 index futures and S&P 500 futures losing 0.9% and 0.25% since midnight, respectively.
It’s worth noting that going into the weekend bitcoin and the broader crypto market enjoyed a period of bullish price action, steering itself away from immediate danger, and Monday’s selloff could also be attributed to profit-taking.
Derivatives positioning
- Bitcoin derivatives positioning held steady this week. Open interest (OI) was steady at $17 billion, while the three-month annualized basis held at 3.8%.
- Funding rates were little changed to positive across multiple venues, with Bybit the notable exception at roughly -13% annualized on BTC perps. Stable OI alongside a firm basis and constructive funding suggests the market is holding its positioning without meaningful new leverage being added in either direction
- Options positioning has tilted bullish. The 24-hour put/call ratio sits at 64/36 in favor of calls, and while the one-week delta skew remains elevated at 16%, it has narrowed from 26% a week ago, suggesting call demand is easing off rather than building.
- The at-the-money term structure remains in contango, with the front end around 34%-35% and the long end at ~43% out to mid-2027, which implies traders see a calm longer-term volatility environment
- Coinglass data shows $253 million in 24-hour liquidations, with a 76-24 split between longs and shorts. BTC ($70 million) and ETH ($60 million) led in terms of notional liquidations.
- The Binance liquidation heatmap indicates $62,000 as a core liquidation level to monitor, in case of a price drop.
Token talk
- AI tokens FET and NEAR showed strength, rising by around 1.5% apiece despite the rest of the market suffering losses.
- Hyperliquid (HYPE) followed rival LIT down, dropping by around 3.3% to $65.1, its lowest point since July 2.
- CoinMarketCap’s “Altcoin Season” indicator reflects the recent volatility. The measure is reading 56/100 after rising from last week’s average of 50. This implies more risk-on sentiment from investors following months of heavy losses.
- One of the most volatile tokens of late has been , which suffered a grueling 39% downturn in June before bouncing by more than 40% at the start of July. It has since retraced that upshift, losing 19% since July 4.
- Solana-based decentralized exchange jupiter (JUP) has also struggled of late, losing more than 15% over the past week as daily trading volume dwindled to just $17 million, down from 2025 when it regularly topped $500 million.
Crypto World
XRP Price Prediction: Brad Garlinghouse Considered Shutting Down Ripple and Giving XRP to Shareholders
Ripple almost pulled the plug on itself. Brad Garlinghouse said this week that he and co-founder Chris Larsen seriously discussed shutting the company after the SEC sued in 2020. Instead of fighting, Ripple would have handed its XRP holdings to shareholders on a pro rata basis. XRP price now trades around $1.07, down about 2% over the past 24 hours, and the prediction barely blinked.
Speaking at the University of Kansas School of Business, Garlinghouse admitted shutting down felt like the simpler choice. No company would have meant no lawsuit. Yet Ripple decided to stay in the fight because walking away would have cost hundreds of employees their jobs.
"We almost decided to shut down the company when the SEC sued us." —
– Brad Garlinghouse, @Ripple CEO, Kansas University, published Jul 8, 2026. pic.twitter.com/kvbe2gnkmU
Eri ~ Carpe Diem (@sentosumosaba) July 11, 2026
That decision was anything but cheap. Ripple spent about $150 million on legal fees during the four-year battle. Garlinghouse said they kept going because the company had people depending on it, not because they knew the court would side with them. That’s a lot of money to spend on a “maybe.”
The case finally turned in Ripple’s favor when Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP itself is not a security. The court also found that some institutional sales broke securities laws, leaving both sides to settle the remaining issues later. With the legal fight behind it, Garlinghouse’s latest comments show Ripple came much closer to disappearing than most people ever knew.
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XRP Price Prediction: Break Above $1.17 or Is Consolidation the Base Case?
XRP is stuck in a narrow range, and neither buyers nor sellers have taken control. It is trading around $1.10 after moving between $1.07 and $1.11 over the past day. During the past week, the token has swung between $1.07 and $1.17, showing traders are still waiting for a reason to pick a side.
For now, support sits near $1.07, where buyers have stepped in several times. On the upside, $1.12 to $1.17 remains the ceiling. XRP has knocked on that door more than once, but the answer has been the same. Not today.
A break above $1.17 with stronger volume could shift momentum toward $1.25. Until then, the path of least resistance looks sideways. As long as $1.07 holds, the chart still gives bulls something to work with, even if it feels like watching paint dry.
If XRP loses $1.07 on a daily close, attention could quickly turn to the psychological $1.00 level. That would erase the recent range and put buyers back on defense.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s legal victory and Garlinghouse’s latest comments have done little to move the needle. It seems the market has already filed that story away and is waiting for the next headline.
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Bitcoin Hyper Targets Early-Stage Positioning as XRP Trades Sideways at $68B Market Cap
XRP’s consolidation at a $68–69 billion market cap is a structural ceiling problem, not a catalyst problem. Meaningful percentage moves from here require either a sector-wide re-rating or Ripple-specific news of substantial scale. That’s the math at large-cap valuations. Traders looking for asymmetric upside are increasingly scanning earlier in the risk curve, which is where Bitcoin Hyper is drawing attention.
Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is positioning as the first Bitcoin Layer 2 with Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) integration, a combination that targets Bitcoin’s three core limitations simultaneously: slow transactions, high fees, and the near-total absence of programmability.
The architecture delivers sub-second finality on top of Bitcoin’s security layer, with a decentralized canonical bridge handling BTC transfers. Presale price sits at exactly $0.013683, with $33 million raised to date. Staking is live with high APY for early participants.
For traders who followed XRP’s legal arc from 2020 through settlement, the comparison to early-stage asymmetric bets isn’t lost.
Research Bitcoin Hyper at the official presale before the current price tier closes.
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The post XRP Price Prediction: Brad Garlinghouse Considered Shutting Down Ripple and Giving XRP to Shareholders appeared first on Cryptonews.
Metaplanet has officially launched Metaplanet Securities, turning its completed acquisition of Siiibo Securities into a regulated digital asset investment banking business built around Bitcoin-backed financial products.
Summary
- Metaplanet has launched Metaplanet Securities after completing its acquisition of Siiibo Securities.
- The new regulated business will develop Bitcoin backed bonds and digital credit products under Project Nova.
- JPYC and Progmat are working with Metaplanet on a Bitcoin backed digital credit ecosystem for Japanese investors.
According to Metaplanet, the new subsidiary succeeds the Tokyo-based brokerage acquired for JPY 2.1 billion, completing a transaction first announced in June.
The company said the business will operate under a Type I Financial Instruments Business Operator licence regulated by Japan’s Financial Services Agency, giving it the legal framework to structure and distribute securities products linked to digital assets.
Rather than limiting its strategy to holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet, Metaplanet said the securities business will focus on financial engineering and regulated investment products designed for Japan’s capital markets. The company described the launch as the next step in Project Nova, its long-term plan to build Bitcoin-focused financial services.
Project Nova moves toward product development
Metaplanet Securities has also introduced Project Nova as its first major initiative under the new structure. The company said it intends to develop a digital credit ecosystem with yen stablecoin issuer JPYC and tokenization platform Progmat by using its Bitcoin treasury as credit-enhancement collateral for digital corporate bonds and structured credit products.
The proposed framework would combine Progmat’s security token infrastructure with JPYC’s stablecoins to support continuous trading, near-instant settlement and automated daily interest calculations. According to Metaplanet, the products are intended for both institutional and retail investors seeking regulated, yen-denominated exposure to Bitcoin-backed yields.
Earlier this month, Metaplanet, JPYC, Progmat and Metaplanet Securities launched a joint study to examine whether Bitcoin could serve as collateral or a credit-enhancement asset for blockchain-based credit instruments. The participants said at the time that they would evaluate product design, settlement, regulation, investor protection, and technical requirements before making any decision on issuance.
The companies also stated that no launch date, yield structure, product terms or distribution plans had been approved, and any future offering would require internal approvals together with discussions with regulators.
From Bitcoin treasury to financial products
Project Nova builds on Metaplanet’s effort to generate income from its growing Bitcoin reserves instead of treating the asset solely as a treasury holding. The company previously said the strategy views Bitcoin as productive collateral that can support financial products within Japan’s regulated securities framework.
The acquisition of Siiibo Securities, announced in June and completed on July 13, gave Metaplanet control of an established online corporate bond platform together with an existing investor network. Company information released during the acquisition process said Siiibo had supported more than 40 companies and over 100 bond issuances, primarily through private placement corporate bonds and venture debt financing.
Meanwhile, Metaplanet has continued expanding its Bitcoin treasury while building the new business. The company disclosed on July 10 that it held 43,000 BTC after purchasing 2,823 BTC during the second quarter. It has also said it plans to increase its holdings to 210,000 BTC by the end of 2027 while developing financial products backed by those reserves.
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