Veteran trader Peter Brandt has identified a possible bottoming structure on Bitcoin’s chart after the cryptocurrency rebounded from its late-June lows. Brandt stressed that traders still lack enough evidence to confirm the setup.

Bitcoin traded near $64,000 on July 16 after failing to hold above $65,000. It has recovered from below $58,000, but questions remain over whether spot demand can support a broader reversal.

Brandt flags an unconventional Bitcoin bottom pattern

In aJuly 16 post on X, Brandt said Bitcoin’s chart could be developing an inverted head-and-shoulders bottom. He described the structure as “VERY VERY UNCONVENTIONAL” and added, “We do NOT know yet.” He presented the formation as an early possibility rather than a confirmed signal.

Vlad.fun, a memecoin launchpad built on Robinhood Chain, has suspended operations after reporting what it called a “serious internal integrity issue” involving members of its team.

The project said it took the platform offline while it investigates the matter and consults legal counsel.

The team has not disclosed the nature of the alleged conduct or identified anyone involved. In its official statement on X, Vlad.fun said it would take appropriate action based on the findings of its investigation.

Vlad.fun takes its platform offline

Vlad.fun said it discovered the issue around the platform’s launch and that members of its team were involved. The project said it would not “gloss over it” and paused operations while reviewing what happened. It has not said whether user funds, token contracts or other parts of the platform were affected.

Hours before announcing the suspension, the project also warned users that a token carrying the Vlad.fun name and appearing on its leaderboard was not official. The team reminded traders through its official X account that its launchpad is permissionless and allows anyone to create tokens. Vlad.fun has not stated whether the token warning and internal investigation are connected.

Robinhood Chain’s memecoin boom forms the backdrop

Robinhood launched its public blockchain mainnet on July 1 as an Ethereum Layer 2 built with Arbitrum technology. As previously reported by crypto.news, Robinhood designed the network to support tokenized real-world assets, decentralized finance applications and around-the-clock trading of stock tokens.

However, memecoin trading quickly became a major source of activity. A recent crypto.news analysis found that Robinhood Chain processed about $570 million in launch-week trading volume against roughly $21.68 million in liquidity, with speculative memecoin activity driving much of the turnover.

Galaxy Digital also reported that memecoins became the network’s most active early use case. Trading volume surged above $560 million on July 8 as interest in tokens including CASHCAT drew more users and liquidity to the new network.

Launchpad disruptions draw closer attention

Vlad.fun is not the first Robinhood Chain launchpad to experience an operational disruption during the network’s early growth. As previously reported, NOXA went offline after becoming a major venue for token launches on Robinhood Chain. Its associated tokens continued trading onchain while its website remained unavailable.

The circumstances are different. NOXA attributed its outage to a Cloudflare problem, while Vlad.fun has cited an internal integrity matter involving team members and said it is consulting lawyers. There is currently no public evidence connecting the two events.

Investigation leaves key questions unanswered

Vlad.fun has not provided a timeline for completing its investigation or restoring the platform. It has also not disclosed whether the alleged issue involved token launches, team wallets, trading activity, platform access or another part of its operations.

For now, the project’s statement remains the main source of information about the shutdown. Users are awaiting more details about the scope of the investigation and any legal action that could follow. The suspension comes as Robinhood Chain continues its rapid expansion, with memecoin trading playing a large role in the network’s early activity.

Bitcoin (BTC) “cycle peak buyers” could already be pointing the way to the next bear-market bottom.

Key points:

• Bitcoin hodlers who bought BTC one to two years ago are cooling selling pressure.
• The cohort’s realized losses have led to market bottoms once their uptrend reverses, Glassnode data shows.
• Speculators’ cost basis reinforces the next BTC price battleground at $69,000.

Glassnode: Bitcoin realized loss reversal “worth watching closely”

In an X post on Friday, Cryptovizart, the pseudonymous lead research analyst at onchain analytics platform Glassnode, showed a classic bottom signal potentially repeating.

The latest in a series of such signals, the latest puts buyers who bought BTC in the latter part of the bull market in focus.

“One of the metrics I watch most closely when trying to gauge a bear market’s end is, Realized Loss volume (in USD) by the 1-2 year holders,” Cryptovizart wrote.

Here, coins moving onchain at a loss last did so between July 2024 and July 2025. During that time, BTC/USD increased from around $62,800 to $107,000, placing the majority of investors underwater on their allocation.

“As frustration builds with sustained price underperformance, this cohort tends to progressively increase loss realization,” the post continues.

“Historically, bear markets have not found durable footing until this specific group exhausts its sell pressure.”

Bitcoin realized losses for 1-2 year hodlers (30-day moving average). Source: Cryptovizart/X

An accompanying chart shows a spike in realized losses on a 30-day rolling basis, with the tally recently passing $75 million before beginning a reversal. For Cryptovizart, that feature is key.

“When the 30D-SMA of their realized loss cools and rolls over, it has often been among the clearest early signals that the heaviest distribution phase is behind the market,” they added.

“Worth watching closely.”

Focus shifts to $69,000 BTC price showdown

Hodler realized losses are not the only onchain metric on the radar when it comes to timing the next macro BTC price floor. 

Related: Bitcoin gets new $80K August target: Watch these BTC price levels next

As Cointelegraph reported, stochastic relative strength index (RSI) values on two-month time frames are creating classic market reversal conditions.

In the latest edition of its regular newsletter, The Week Onchain, Glassnode meanwhile flagged Bitcoin speculators’ aggregate cost basis as bulls’ next resistance hurdle.

At around $69,000, the cost basis for short-term holders (STHs) also coincides with old all-time highs from the 2021 bull market.

“The first meeting with that level will likely draw a strong reaction, because the people most inclined to sell are the ones about to be made whole,” it read.

“A convincing reclaim would give the recovery room to run; a rejection keeps the range intact.”

BTC/USD chart with cost-basis levels (screenshot). Source: Glassnode

A Bitcoin wallet that had remained inactive for more than eight years has transferred 5,908 BTC worth about $383 million, reviving another long-dormant holding as traders continue tracking large onchain movements.

According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, citing Arkham data, the wallet identified as “138EM…ReyiT” moved the entire 5,908 BTC balance to a new address at 7:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The coins remain in the recipient wallet, with no signs that they have been sent to a cryptocurrency exchange.

Ostium, a decentralized trading protocol for onchain perpetuals, has paused all trading after security firms reported an apparent exploit tied to its OLP liquidity vault. The pause comes alongside warnings that the incident may be linked to the protocol’s oracle system, which delivers external price data needed for trading.

Blockaid estimated the losses at roughly $18 million, while CertiK put the figure closer to $22 million. Both firms suggested the underlying issue involves a compromise of Ostium’s oracle layer, raising broader questions about the resilience of DeFi protocols whose critical components run outside their core smart contracts.

Key takeaways

• Ostium paused all trading after a reported issue affecting its OLP liquidity vault.
• Security firms Blockaid and CertiK estimated losses at about $18 million and $22 million respectively.
• Both reports pointed to an apparent oracle compromise as the likely driver of the incident.
• Ostium asked users to temporarily revoke token approvals for its contracts while it investigates.

Trading halted after security firms flagged an oracle-linked incident

According to reports from blockchain security companies Blockaid and CertiK, Ostium’s OLP liquidity vault appears to have been exploited. The figures cited by the two firms differ slightly—Blockaid estimated losses at approximately $18 million, while CertiK assessed the impact at roughly $22 million—illustrating the uncertainty that often follows fast-moving investigations.

Both firms attributed the apparent exploit to a compromise of Ostium’s oracle system. Oracles supply offchain or externally sourced price information to onchain markets, and a failure at this layer can undermine the pricing assumptions that perpetuals rely on for liquidations, settlement, and margin logic.

Ostium confirmed the operational response on X, stating that it paused all trading after identifying an issue related to the vault. The protocol later advised users to take an additional protective step: it recommended that users temporarily revoke approvals for its contracts until the team can complete its review of what happened.

“With user security being our first concern, we recommend that all users temporarily revoke approvals for our contracts until we can further investigate the recent incident.”

Why the pause and approvals warning matter for users

In DeFi incidents, the immediate risk is not always limited to the exploited vault itself. When a protocol suspects that permissions may be exposed—or that an attacker could interact with contracts in unintended ways—revoking approvals can reduce the chances of further unauthorized transfers or actions tied to existing allowances.

Ostium’s decision to halt trading suggests it wants to prevent new positions from opening or existing mechanisms from interacting with liquidity while the threat profile is unclear. Importantly, the protocol also said its team is still investigating and has not yet confirmed the root cause or validated the loss estimates provided by Blockaid and CertiK.

That gap—between an “apparent exploit” and an officially confirmed incident report—can be consequential. Traders typically need clarity on whether price data was manipulated, whether funds were drained from a single vault or multiple routes were used, and whether any remaining funds are still at risk. Until those questions are answered, the most practical step for users is to follow Ostium’s own mitigation guidance.

Ostium’s setup and the broader DeFi security problem

Ostium is built on Arbitrum and operates as an onchain perpetuals platform offering leveraged exposure to 75 trading pairs. Those pairs span stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, foreign exchange, and cryptocurrencies.

The incident reinforces a pattern that security researchers have highlighted in recent months: DeFi attacks increasingly focus on offchain infrastructure—particularly oracle systems—rather than solely on vulnerabilities within base smart contracts. Even when onchain code is correct, the system can fail if the inputs it depends on can be altered, spoofed, or otherwise compromised.

This is not an isolated event. DeFi security reporting over the past year has repeatedly shown that oracle-related failures, privileged access compromises, and key-management issues can cause outsized damage. In April, Cointelegraph coverage cited DeFiLlama data indicating that crypto hacks produced nearly $630 million in losses during April—its highest monthly total since February 2025. DeFi protocols accounted for the majority of that number, with exploits at KelpDAO and Drift Protocol making up more than 80% of the month’s total.

With the Ostium pause, investors and market participants may want to think about how DeFi systems handle “trusted inputs.” When price feeds are a single point of failure, the operational integrity of decentralized markets can hinge on the security posture of components outside the core trading logic.

Institutional concerns: can DeFi scale if oracle risk remains central?

Beyond immediate losses, incidents like this renew an ongoing debate about whether DeFi is ready for institutional participation. Cointelegraph previously reported concerns about whether DeFi can meet the expectations of institutional risk frameworks, especially as bridge security and cross-layer dependencies continue to show weaknesses.

In an April research note, JPMorgan analysts described bridge security as a key challenge for the sector, calling into question how DeFi could scale for broader institutional involvement. Separately, Cointelegraph noted that shrinking DeFi yields can make security risks harder to justify, and that institutions may struggle to quantify hack risk even when interest in blockchain-based finance continues to grow.

Against that backdrop, the Ostium incident highlights a practical tension: perpetual trading platforms often offer sophisticated exposure, but they also rely on a chain of systems—especially oracles—that may introduce failure modes outside a typical smart-contract audit’s scope.

For builders and risk managers, the next phase will likely focus on operational transparency: what oracle data was used, whether the compromised component was identifiable, and how Ostium’s controls prevented wider contagion. For traders, the key question is whether the pause turns into a prolonged suspension until full verification, or whether the protocol can safely resume with updated safeguards.

Readers should watch for Ostium’s follow-up investigation findings, especially any confirmation of the oracle compromise hypothesis, plus further guidance on whether users must do anything beyond revoking approvals and waiting for resumption of trading.

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The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution opposing any federal clemency for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Senators agreed to the measure by unanimous consent on July 15, meaning no senator objected when it was brought before the chamber.

The resolution states that Bankman-Fried should “under no circumstances” receive executive clemency, including a presidential pardon or sentence commutation. The Senate measure does not limit the president’s constitutional pardon power, but it places the chamber on record against clemency for the former FTX chief.

Senate backs bipartisan resolution without objection

The Senate approved S.Res.772, according to the U.S. Senate Daily Press. The measure also states that denying clemency would support the rule of law and the integrity of the U.S. financial system.

Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego introduced the resolution on June 17. Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, serve on the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee. When introducing the measure, Lummis said Bankman-Fried “had his day in court,” while Gallego called for him to remain imprisoned.

Bankman-Fried continues to pursue a pardon

The Senate action follows Bankman-Fried’s request for presidential clemency. As previously reported by crypto.news, the former FTX chief submitted a pardon application in June while continuing efforts to challenge his conviction and 25-year prison sentence.

His legal options narrowed days later when an appeals court upheld his conviction. As reported by crypto.news, a three-judge panel rejected arguments that the trial court had wrongly limited evidence that Bankman-Fried wanted to present in his defense. The ruling left his conviction and sentence in place, though routes for further review remain available.

FTX collapse remains central to Senate opposition

A federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy charges linked to the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors accused him of moving billions of dollars in customer funds from the exchange to Alameda Research and using the money for investments, political donations and other spending.

A judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison in March 2024. Bankman-Fried has continued to dispute parts of the government’s case and has sought legal and political routes to reduce or overturn his punishment. Federal prison records cited in recent reporting indicate that his projected release date falls in 2044.

Trump’s earlier crypto pardons shape the backdrop

The resolution arrives after President Donald Trump granted clemency to other figures linked to the crypto industry. Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht in January 2025 and later pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October 2025.

Bankman-Fried has not received support from the White House. As previously reported, Trump said in January that he did not plan to pardon the FTX founder. A White House spokesperson later referred reporters back to those remarks after Bankman-Fried filed his formal application.

The Senate resolution remains nonbinding and cannot block a president from granting clemency. However, its unanimous passage shows that no senator present objected to formally opposing a pardon or commutation for Bankman-Fried.

EUR/USD and GBP/USD continue to recover moderately following the recent weakening of the US dollar. European currencies have been supported by expectations that US inflationary pressures will continue to ease after softer-than-expected CPI and PPI data, reinforcing market hopes for a more accommodative Federal Reserve policy. However, the upside potential for both the euro and the pound remains limited amid persistent geopolitical tensions. The United States continues to carry out strikes against targets in Iran, supporting demand for defensive assets and periodically boosting the US dollar.

Today, traders will closely monitor a series of important economic releases from the United Kingdom, the eurozone, and the United States, which could determine the next direction for the major currency pairs.

EUR/USD

EUR/USD continues to develop after a bullish engulfing reversal pattern while attempting to establish itself above the key resistance level at 1.1460. Technical analysis suggests the pair could extend its advance towards the 1.1540–1.1580 area. The bullish scenario would be invalidated by a decisive move below 1.1370.

Key events for EUR/USD:

• 11:40 (GMT+3): Spain 10-year government bond auction;
• 15:30 (GMT+3): US Core Retail Sales;
• 15:30 (GMT+3): US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index.

GBP/USD

GBP/USD is recovering more strongly than EUR/USD. Buyers have managed to establish the pair above the important 1.3500 resistance level, and positive UK macroeconomic data could pave the way for a further advance towards the 1.3610–1.3680 region. At the same time, after such a rapid rally, a corrective pullback could see the pair retest the 1.3440–1.3480 area, this time as support.

Key events for GBP/USD:

• 09:00 (GMT+3): UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP);
• 14:00 (GMT+3): NIESR Monthly UK GDP Tracker;
• 18:30 (GMT+3): Atlanta Fed GDPNow estimate.

Overall, European currencies retain the potential to extend their recovery as markets continue to price in a more accommodative Federal Reserve. However, today’s economic releases from the UK, the eurozone, and the US could significantly reshape market sentiment. If US data once again disappoint expectations, EUR/USD and GBP/USD may receive additional support. Conversely, stronger-than-expected US figures could revive demand for the dollar and limit further gains in European currencies.

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Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh testified before Congress on 14–15 July, reaffirming the Fed’s commitment to bringing inflation back to target while providing no clear guidance on the future path of interest rates. Meanwhile, June inflation data came in softer than expected, with annual consumer price growth slowing to 3.5% from 4.2% in May, temporarily supporting risk appetite. At the same time, the earnings season got underway, with Goldman Sachs reporting better-than-expected results on 14 July, providing additional support for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index (Wall Street 30 on FXOpen).

Technical Picture

The Dow Jones Index (WS30m on FXOpen) advanced along an ascending trendline from its 23 June low, reaching the 53,400 area on 7 July, marked by the red resistance level. A sharp decline then followed, breaking below the trendline, with prices subsequently consolidating within the range of the large bearish breakout candle. Since then, the index has been trading within the current market profile, compressed between the profile’s upper boundary at 52,770 and the Point of Control (POC) at 52,550, awaiting a catalyst to break out of the current range.

If the bearish scenario unfolds and the price falls below both the trendline and the lower boundary of the market profile at 52,240, market participants might focus on the 51,750 area, where the index could potentially find support during a further decline. The RSI + MAs indicator currently shows readings of 55, 49, and 50 respectively, with all three remaining in neutral territory and providing no clear directional signal.

Summary

With the RSI lacking momentum and price remaining confined to a narrow range between the POC and the upper boundary of the market profile, the market appears to be in a pause following the failed trend breakout. A potential catalyst for a decisive move could come from the US June Retail Sales report, due later today, 16 July, while the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on 29 July may provide the next major directional trigger.

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This article represents the opinion of the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand only. It is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to products and services provided by the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand, nor is it to be considered financial advice.