Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz has defended XRP advertising in college sports after critics called for tighter restrictions on crypto promotion. 

The debate followed the University of Kansas athletics program’s decision to place XRP branding on team uniforms under a multi-year partnership with Ripple.

In a July 15 post on X, Schwartz argued that governments cannot broadly suppress truthful advertising for lawful products simply because officials believe consumers may make poor decisions. His position centers on First Amendment protections for commercial speech.

Schwartz turns XRP advertising debate into constitutional question

The discussion began after critics compared crypto promotion in college sports with advertising for gambling, tobacco and alcohol. They argued that universities should not expose students and younger sports fans to digital asset marketing.

Schwartz responded with a legal argument rather than a defense of XRP as an investment. He wrote that the government cannot suppress truthful commercial speech merely to prevent people from making “bad, but lawful, decisions.” His argument draws a distinction between regulating an activity and banning truthful speech about that activity.

Supreme Court cases support protection for lawful advertising

Schwartz cited 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island, a 1996 Supreme Court case that struck down restrictions on advertising liquor prices. The Court found that Rhode Island could not broadly block truthful price information simply because the state wanted to reduce alcohol consumption.

He also pointed to Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Association v. United States. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal restriction could not block advertisements for lawful private casino gambling under the circumstances before the Court.

However, those rulings do not make every restriction on XRP advertising automatically unconstitutional. Under the Supreme Court’s Central Hudson framework, commercial speech receives protection when it concerns lawful activity and is not misleading. Governments may still impose properly tailored restrictions that directly serve a substantial public interest.

Kansas deal puts XRP logo across college sports

Kansas Athletics announced the Ripple partnership on July 8. The XRP logo will appear on uniforms across the university’s athletic programs, making it the first cryptocurrency jersey patch used across a major college athletics program, according to Kansas.

The agreement also covers branding at athletic venues, digital properties and events. Ripple will fund financial and technology education programs for student-athletes and the wider campus community. The partnership also expands an existing recruitment link between Ripple and Kansas graduates.

As previously reported, the agreement runs for five years and has personal ties to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, a University of Kansas alumnus. The sponsorship has since drawn wider attention to how universities should handle digital asset advertising.

XRP legal history adds context to advertising dispute

The debate comes three years after a federal court issued its split ruling in the SEC’s case against Ripple. The court found that Ripple’s programmatic XRP sales did not qualify as securities transactions under the circumstances examined, while certain institutional sales violated securities laws. The case formally ended in 2025 with a $125 million penalty and an injunction remaining in place.

That history makes broad claims about XRP’s legal status more complex than simply calling the asset universally exempt from financial regulation. Schwartz’s First Amendment argument instead rests on a narrower point: truthful commercial speech concerning lawful activity receives constitutional protection.

A government attempt to impose a blanket ban on XRP advertising could therefore face a serious First Amendment challenge. But existing Supreme Court doctrine still allows some commercial advertising rules when regulators can satisfy the required constitutional test.

Ethereum price has reclaimed the $1,850 resistance after softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data triggered a sharp short squeeze, putting the $2,000 level back into focus for traders.

The second-largest cryptocurrency climbed nearly 5% on July 15 after June’s Consumer Price Index came in below expectations, easing concerns that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh would resume aggressive rate hikes. Risk assets rallied across global markets, with tech stocks advancing alongside cryptocurrencies as investors priced in a more accommodative policy outlook.

Derivatives markets amplified the move. CoinGlass liquidation data shows a dense cluster of leveraged short positions between $1,800 and $1,850 was wiped out as Ethereum broke through resistance. Forced buybacks accelerated the rally toward $1,900, while the latest liquidation heatmap now shows fresh liquidity pockets concentrated around $1,900-$1,950.

A successful push through that zone could expose another wave of liquidations and open a path toward the psychological $2,000 level.

Technical breakout puts $2,000 back in play

Ethereum’s daily chart shows the recovery has developed from a series of rounded-bottom formations that formed after June’s selloff to nearly $1,500. Price has now completed a breakout above the neckline near $1,850, a level that capped several recovery attempts over recent weeks. The measured move from the pattern projects a target close to $2,190, matching a major resistance zone from earlier this year.

Momentum indicators continue to favor buyers. The Aroon Up indicator stands above 92 while Aroon Down has dropped to zero, suggesting bulls retain control of the prevailing trend. Relative Strength Index has climbed to around 63, leaving room for additional gains before reaching overbought territory.

The 4-hour chart reinforces the bullish structure. Ethereum has reclaimed the 100% Fibonacci retracement level near $1,897 after holding above the 78.6% retracement around $1,815. MACD remains in positive territory with widening bullish momentum, while the Chaikin Money Flow reading above zero suggests capital continues to enter the market rather than leave it.

Commenting on the breakout, crypto analyst Daan Crypto Trades wrote on X:

“ETH Breaking above the $1.8K level and saw some good continuation so far. The market structure has flipped back to bullish on this timeframe.”

He added that the next major high-timeframe resistance sits near the $2,100 region, while maintaining $1,800 as support remains critical for bullish momentum.

Another closely followed trader, Ted Pillows, believes the next milestone could arrive quickly if buyers defend current levels. “$ETH has fully reclaimed its key resistance level. If Ethereum manages to hold above the $1,850 level, the pump towards $2,000 will be next,” he wrote.

The Czech Ministry of Finance has added Polymarket to its list of unauthorized online gambling websites, triggering mandatory blocking by internet service providers (ISPs). The move brings another European jurisdiction into the growing crackdown on prediction markets that regulators argue operate without the right licenses.

According to the ministry, Polymarket’s website was included under the Czech Gambling Act, which bars operators from offering unlicensed online gambling services to people in the country. ISPs are required to block the listed site within 15 days of the blacklist publication, as described in the ministry’s published data and the relevant law.

Key takeaways

• The Czech Ministry of Finance has formally blacklisted Polymarket under the Gambling Act and ordered ISP blocking within 15 days of listing.
• Regulators across Europe are increasingly scrutinizing prediction-market contracts, particularly when they resemble binary options.
• ESMA warned that marketing labels like “event contracts” may not change the legal assessment if a product meets the definition of a financial instrument.
• Similar restrictions have emerged beyond Europe, including actions tied to gambling concerns in other jurisdictions and state-level disputes in the US.

How the Czech blacklist affects access

In a notice published by the Czech Ministry of Finance, Polymarket was added to the publicly available list of unauthorized internet gambling websites. The ministry’s classification is tied to the country’s Gambling Act framework, under which offering online gambling to Czech users without authorization is prohibited.

The practical effect is straightforward: once a domain is included on the ministry’s blacklist, ISPs must block access. The ministry’s materials point to the legal obligation to implement such blocks within 15 days after the name is published.

For Polymarket, which operates as a prediction market where users trade contracts tied to the outcomes of future events, this kind of restriction can directly limit retail participation from affected networks, even if the platform remains accessible in other countries.

Why prediction markets keep running into regulation

The Czech action follows a broader regulatory pattern. Regulators in multiple jurisdictions argue that some prediction-market contracts effectively function as gambling products—or, in certain cases, fall within existing financial market rules—depending on how the contracts behave.

Earlier this year, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued guidance warning that many prediction market contracts could already be captured by restrictions on binary options under EU rules. ESMA emphasized that firms cannot sidestep regulatory obligations merely by branding binary-style products as “event contracts” instead of derivatives.

ESMA’s point was technical but consequential: whether a contract is treated as a financial instrument depends on its characteristics rather than its marketing label. ESMA further noted that companies offering qualifying contracts to retail investors may already face national restrictions reflecting the EU’s 2018 ban on binary options, while offerings to professional clients may require authorization under MiFID II (the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive).

For market participants, the implication is that compliance risk does not hinge on naming conventions. Platforms may need to evaluate contract structures—such as how payouts are determined, how the products are offered, and the target investor base—because regulators are increasingly treating substance as the deciding factor.

EU scrutiny is part of a wider global trend

While EU authorities have been vocal about the potential overlap between prediction-market contracts and regulated financial products, the issue is not limited to Europe. Cointelegraph previously reported that regulators in several other countries have restricted access to Polymarket citing gambling-related concerns.

In the Asia-Pacific region, similar actions have been described in Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore. Elsewhere, the core debate has also played out in the United States, where Polymarket and rival platform Kalshi have faced regulatory challenges at the state level over whether their event contracts are illegal gambling.

At the same time, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has maintained that such products fall under its exclusive jurisdiction as federally regulated derivatives. This disagreement has contributed to a patchwork environment, including conflicting court outcomes, and has fueled calls for clearer congressional guidance on whether sports and political event contracts should be treated as gambling or handled as derivatives under federal frameworks.

The result for users is uneven market access: depending on where they live and how regulators classify the same underlying contract mechanics, the same platform can be permitted, restricted, or blocked.

What to watch next

With the Czech blacklist now active and ESMA continuing to frame the issue around contract characteristics, investors and users should expect more compliance-driven changes across jurisdictions—either through licensing, product redesign, or restricted access. The key uncertainty remains how quickly courts and regulators converge on a consistent legal classification for prediction-market contracts that sit between gambling and financial derivatives.

For Polymarket specifically, the immediate question is whether it will take steps to operate within Czech requirements or adjust its distribution approach to mitigate access blocks. More broadly, market watchers should monitor how EU guidance translates into enforcement actions and whether similar measures spread through additional member states.

XRP rebounded to around $1.11 on July 15, recovering from the $1.07 area after gaining about 3.8% over 24 hours. 

The token traded between $1.07 and $1.12, while daily trading volume increased to roughly $1.29 billion, according to the latest crypto.news XRP market data.

Despite the recovery, XRP remains about 6% lower over the past month and nearly 70% below its July 2025 record high of $3.65. Analysts are now watching whether buyers can break resistance around $1.12 or whether the latest rebound will give way to another test of the $1 psychological level.

XRP price reaches a major resistance zone

The XRP/USDT chart still shows a broader bearish structure after the token fell from above $2 earlier this year. Recent price action has stabilized near the lower end of that decline, but XRP has yet to recover the stronger resistance zones that would confirm a wider trend change.

The MACD shows limited improvement, with its histogram slightly above zero and the MACD and signal lines close together. This points to mild recovery pressure rather than strong bullish momentum. A sustained move above $1.12 could strengthen the short-term structure, while the $1.30 to $1.40 region remains a larger hurdle.

XRP price chart, source: crypto news

Crypto analyst Crypto Patel said XRP had entered a high-confluence resistance area following a bearish market structure shift. He identified a bearish order block, fair value gap and breakdown retest around the current price area.

Patel said the bearish setup remains active while XRP stays below $1.12. His downside targets sit at $1.058, $1.013, $0.95 and $0.90. The levels represent a technical scenario rather than guaranteed future prices.

Analysts remain cautious despite XRP rebound

Cryptorphic also warned that XRP’s short-term structure continues to favor sellers. The analyst wrote that “lower levels seem likely as long as $1.08 remains resistance.” XRP has since moved above that level, making $1.12 the next immediate test for the recovery.

A close above $1.12 could weaken the bearish setup and allow buyers to challenge higher resistance. Failure to hold the recent rebound would return attention to $1.058 and the broader $1.00 to $1.06 support zone.

Notably, XRP recently faced persistent selling pressure on Binance while struggling below $1.08. Negative spot order flow had kept sellers in control even as social sentiment remained heavily bullish.

The latest rebound has improved the immediate price picture, but XRP still needs stronger buying volume to confirm that the previous selling pressure has eased. Recent crypto.news analysis identified $1.00 to $1.06 as the main support zone and $1.18 to $1.20 as the larger resistance range for July.

$50 XRP scenario depends on massive crypto market growth

Under that assumption, XRP could theoretically trade near $50.10. A 1% market share would imply about $16.01 per XRP, while 5% would produce a value near $80.08. Moon Lambo stressed, “I’m not making a prediction.”

The scenario depends on the entire crypto market growing to $100 trillion while XRP retains the assumed market share. Changes in circulating supply and market dominance would also alter the calculation.

For the near term, the market remains focused on much closer levels. XRP must hold above the recent recovery zone and clear $1.12 before testing the $1.18 to $1.20 resistance area. Failure to maintain the rebound could place $1.058 and $1.00 back in focus as sellers attempt to regain control.

Actor and cryptocurrency critic Ben McKenzie has taken his campaign against the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act to Capitol Hill as the legislation approaches a possible Senate vote.

McKenzie spent Tuesday meeting with lawmakers and joined Democratic senators at a Capitol Hill press conference opposing the CLARITY Act. The former The O.C. actor argued against legislation that he and other critics say lacks adequate consumer protections and government ethics rules.

McKenzie joins senators opposing CLARITY Act

McKenzie appeared alongside Senators Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen, as well as representatives from Americans for Financial Reform and Indivisible. The group called on senators to reject the current bill unless lawmakers address their concerns.

The opposition centers partly on President Donald Trump’s financial ties to digital assets. Critics have called for restrictions preventing senior government officials and their families from benefiting financially from industries they oversee. The White House has rejected allegations of improper conflicts and has argued that ethics rules should apply equally to officials rather than target the president specifically.As previously reported, the ethics dispute has become one of the main barriers to securing the Democratic votes needed for passage.

Actor has become a prominent crypto critic

McKenzie is best known for playing Ryan Atwood in The O.C. and later appearing in Southland and Gotham. In recent years, he has become an outspoken critic of cryptocurrency markets, celebrity token promotions and claims that blockchain technology can remove the need to trust financial intermediaries.

His work has included interviews with investors, industry critics and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. McKenzie has argued that software cannot fully remove human control from financial systems, pointing to failures at centralized crypto companies as examples of why management and oversight still matter.

His latest lobbying effort moves that campaign directly into the legislative debate. A social media post documenting his Capitol Hill activity showed McKenzie participating in the campaign against the market structure bill.

CLARITY Act faces a narrowing Senate window

The CLARITY Act would create a federal market structure for digital assets and establish clearer regulatory roles for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It would also introduce rules covering exchanges, token issuers and other crypto businesses.

The measure passed the Senate Banking Committee in May by a 15-9 vote after receiving support from two Democrats. It has since reached the Senate legislative calendar, making it eligible for floor consideration, but Senate leaders had not publicly scheduled a final vote as of July 15.

Recent crypto.news coverage noted that the legislation still faces a narrowing path before the Senate’s August break. A July 17 House hearing will also examine the bill, although that hearing cannot move the Senate legislation itself.

Ethics fight could determine whether the bill passes

The CLARITY Act needs enough support to clear the Senate’s 60-vote procedural threshold, making Democratic backing necessary. Ethics provisions have therefore become central to negotiations as lawmakers from both parties work on a final version.

As previously reported, lawmakers are also negotiating rules for decentralized finance and stablecoin rewards. Those disagreements add further pressure to an already limited legislative calendar.

Supporters argue that the bill would replace years of regulatory uncertainty with clearer federal rules. Opponents, including McKenzie and the senators who joined Tuesday’s event, say Congress should not approve the framework without stronger ethics and consumer safeguards.

McKenzie’s involvement does not give him a formal role in the legislative process, but his Capitol Hill campaign adds another public voice to the opposition. The outcome will depend on whether senators can settle the remaining disputes and build the bipartisan support required for a floor vote.

BitMine Immersion Technologies generated $45.7 million from Ethereum staking and validation during the three months ended May 31, making staking its main source of revenue.

The figure represented 98% of the company’s $46.5 million in total quarterly revenue, according to its latest 10-Q filing with the SEC.

A year earlier, BitMine reported total quarterly revenue of just $2.05 million. Machine leasing contributed $1.08 million, while Bitcoin self-mining generated $813,000. The latest results show how sharply the company’s business has shifted toward Ethereum after building one of the world’s largest corporate ETH treasuries.

Ethereum staking becomes BitMine’s core revenue source

BitMine began native Ethereum staking in November 2025 and later launched the Made in America Validator Network, or MAVAN, in March 2026. The institutional platform provides validator and staking infrastructure and is designed to expand beyond BitMine’s own treasury to serve custodians and other institutional clients.

The company also acquired Australian staking infrastructure provider Pier Two in March. The business contributed $3.53 million of quarterly staking revenue and now operates under the MAVAN brand. BitMine said staking and validation generated $56.9 million during the nine months ended May 31, or 95% of its total revenue for the period.

BitMine now has 4.9 million ETH staked

BitMine has continued expanding its Ethereum position since the quarter ended. As of July 12, the company held 5.77 million ETH and had 4,917,189 ETH staked through its operations and staking partners, equal to about 85% of its total holdings.

Notably, BitMine has steadily increased both its ETH treasury and the share placed into staking. Its long-term strategy targets ownership of 5% of Ethereum’s total supply, a goal Chairman Tom Lee calls the “Alchemy of 5%.”

Tom Lee projects $284M in annual staking rewards

Lee said BitMine could generate about $284 million in annualized ETH staking rewards once its entire Ethereum balance is staked through MAVAN and partner platforms. The estimate uses a recent seven-day annualized yield of 2.70%. The figure remains a projection and could change as Ethereum staking yields, ETH prices and validator conditions move.

The company itself identified that dependence as a business risk. Its SEC filing said staking and validation revenue is highly concentrated in MAVAN-related operations. Lower staking yields, validator disruption, Ethereum protocol changes or regulatory developments could therefore have a direct effect on future revenue.

BitMine shifts away from its Bitcoin mining roots

The quarter also showed how small BitMine’s older business lines have become. Bitcoin self-mining generated $624,000, while consulting brought in $168,000. Machine leasing and mining equipment sales produced no revenue after the company ended those operations.

Despite the revenue increase, BitMine reported a quarterly net loss of $83.6 million, driven partly by derivative losses and other expenses. The results show that staking has become the company’s dominant operating revenue engine, but its overall financial performance remains exposed to Ethereum prices, staking economics and its wider treasury strategy.

Recent crypto.news coverage showed BitMine’s ETH holdings reaching 5.77 million tokens as it moved closer to its 5% supply target. With about 4.9 million ETH already staked, future earnings will increasingly depend on whether MAVAN can maintain its validator performance and expand into institutional staking services.

Pi Network price has climbed nearly 20% to around $0.086 on July 15 after an oversold rebound, with improving U.S. inflation data and renewed buying interest combined to lift the token from fresh record lows.

According to data from crypto.news, Pi Network (PI) rebounded from the $0.070-$0.072 area before reaching an intraday high near $0.086, while the latest U.S. inflation figures helped fuel a relief rally across the cryptocurrency market.

The move followed several weeks of relentless selling that had erased roughly 40% of the token’s value and pushed momentum indicators into deeply oversold territory, encouraging bargain hunters and short-term traders to step back into the market.

Oversold conditions and macro relief have supported the rebound

The recovery gained traction after Pi’s daily Relative Strength Index dropped to around 15, a level that typically signals exhausted selling pressure.

At the same time, softer-than-expected U.S. consumer price data improved sentiment across digital assets, drawing fresh liquidity into high-risk cryptocurrencies that had suffered some of the steepest declines during the recent market correction.

Trading activity also accelerated during the rally, with daily volume climbing above $27 million as speculative buyers returned. On the 4-hour chart, Pi has also produced a bullish MACD crossover, while the histogram has turned positive for the first time in days, suggesting bearish momentum has weakened in the short term.

Even so, the technical picture has yet to fully recover. TradingView data shows PI remains below all of its key moving averages, including the 50-period, 100-period, and 200-period simple moving averages, leaving the prevailing downtrend intact despite the latest bounce.

The token briefly reclaimed its 20-period moving average near $0.084 before encountering resistance, indicating buyers still face selling pressure as price attempts to recover.

From a price structure perspective, the recent rebound has helped establish the $0.070 area as an important short-term support zone. However, stronger resistance now sits near the 50-period moving average around $0.094, followed by approximately $0.105 and $0.118, levels that would need to be reclaimed before the market could begin reversing the broader bearish trend.

Heavy token unlocks continue to weigh on sentiment

While macro conditions helped spark today’s rally, the factors behind Pi’s prolonged decline remain largely unchanged. Throughout July, the network has been absorbing substantial scheduled token unlocks, with roughly 103.7 million to 127 million PI entering circulation. The steady increase in available supply has repeatedly outpaced organic demand, contributing to sharp breaks below the $0.12 and $0.10 support levels.

At the same time, capital has continued flowing toward artificial intelligence-related equities in the United States and East Asia, reducing investor appetite for smaller, thinly traded crypto assets such as Pi. The combination of expanding token supply and weaker speculative demand has kept sustained buying pressure limited despite occasional relief rallies.

Developers have nevertheless continued introducing new products intended to strengthen long-term utility within the ecosystem. Recent Pi2Day releases added decentralized application hosting, developer software development kits, and an automated Know Your Customer verification service that requires payments in PI.

Alongside those launches, ongoing core upgrades based on newer versions of the Stellar protocol and continued community speculation surrounding potential listings on major exchanges such as Kraken remain among the key narratives that supporters believe could improve demand over time, although no such exchange listing has been officially confirmed.

SBI Global Asset Management has launched the world’s first tokenized Japanese equity fund on the Solana blockchain through a partnership with DigiFT, bringing a high-dividend equity strategy on-chain for institutional and accredited investors.

According to an announcement shared by SBI Global Asset Management on July 15, the company has introduced the SBI Japan High Dividend Equity Strategy Token (JX token) in collaboration with DigiFT, a regulated real-world asset exchange.

The token gives accredited and institutional investors blockchain-based access to a Japanese high-dividend equity strategy managed by SBI Asset Management Co. The launch is also DigiFT’s first on-chain tokenization of a Japanese equity fund.

Solana powers SBI’s latest tokenized investment product

Built on the Solana blockchain through DigiFT’s tokenization infrastructure, the JX token expands SBI’s digital asset offerings beyond stablecoins and payments.

According to DigiFT, the product combines traditional Japanese equities with blockchain-based ownership while allowing investors to access institutional-grade assets on-chain.

Commenting on the launch, DigiFT founder Henry Zhang said the company has focused on bringing institutional assets onto blockchain infrastructure that investors and asset managers can trust.

“Our mission at DigiFT has always been to bring real, institutional-grade assets on-chain through infrastructure that investors and asset managers can actually trust. JX extends that mission to Japan for the first time.”

The platform also supports settlements in USDC, while DigiFT said integration with a Japanese yen stablecoin is planned for a later stage. According to the company, token holders will also be able to use the asset in decentralized finance applications, including lending and asset management protocols such as Morpho.

The rollout comes as interest in tokenized real-world assets continues to grow across financial markets, with asset managers increasingly exploring blockchain-based distribution for traditional investment products.

Ripple partnership continues alongside multi-chain expansion

Although SBI Holdings has worked closely with Ripple since 2016 through initiatives including SBI Ripple Asia and more recent collaborations around the RLUSD stablecoin, the new equity fund has been launched on Solana because DigiFT’s tokenization platform is built on that network.

The move adds another blockchain to SBI’s digital asset strategy rather than replacing its existing relationship with Ripple. SBI and Ripple continue to work together on expanding XRP and XRP Ledger adoption across Japan.

Most recently, the companies partnered with Doppler to encourage institutional use of XRP in the country. Earlier, SBI also selected Ripple to support RLUSD stablecoin distribution in Japan as part of its multi-stablecoin strategy.

SBI has simultaneously been expanding its yen-backed stablecoin business. As previously reported by crypto.news, the financial group is preparing to introduce a lending product offering a fixed 3% annual yield on its JPYSC stablecoin through SBI VC Trade. The service, which could launch as early as this month, is expected to require users to lock their JPYSC holdings for three months.

The planned lending product follows the release of JPYSC, Japan’s first trust bank-backed yen stablecoin issued by SBI Shinsei Trust Bank. SBI previously said the stablecoin was designed to reduce transaction costs, support large-value transfers, and serve both retail and institutional users, complementing the company’s growing portfolio of blockchain-based financial products.