European Union officials are reportedly planning to revise the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework amid the implementation of a US law on stablecoins.

According to a Wednesday report from Euronews, EU officials planned to revisit proposed changes to MiCA to broaden the framework’s scope, specifically regarding non-EU companies issuing stablecoins. 

The revised rules, which authorities will reportedly consider in 2027, were in response to the US government’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS, Act, putting pressure on EU officials to clarify how US stablecoin issuers could be regulated in member states. Officials will also reportedly consider expanding MiCA to include rules on tokenized payments and deposits.

Under MiCA, crypto companies offering services to EU-based users across 27 member states must now be licensed as Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) by a regulator in one of the member states. Although the licensing requirement took effect on July 1, European Commission officials had already opened a comment period for potentially revising the framework, including provisions on decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins.

Related: Stablecoin-settled TradFi perpetual trading tops $1.1T: Binance Research

The proposed framework, which some have dubbed “MiCA 2.0,” will remain open for comments until Aug. 31. However, Miroslav Durić, a senior associate at Taylor Wessing, told Cointelegraph in June that it was unlikely that “any concrete legislative proposals will be adopted before 2028.”

In addition to the GENIUS Act, US lawmakers are reportedly continuing discussions to advance their own version of market structure called the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill, advanced by two key committees in the previous 12 months, is expected to head to a vote in the Senate in July before the chamber breaks for month-long state work periods.

EU regulators reviewing crypto custody risks

The European Securities and Markets Authority, one of the regulators supporting the implementation of MiCA, announced on Wednesday that it planned to review the operational resilience of CASPs licensed under the recently enacted framework. From July through the first half of 2027, EU regulators will examine how crypto companies handle custody-related operational risks.

Magazine: Why stablecoins and SWIFT may have to coexist

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Circle stock has remained under pressure ahead of the July 18 deadline for U.S. regulators to publish implementation rules for the GENIUS Act, while technical indicators continue to point to downside risks for CRCL shares.

According to the GENIUS Act signed by President Donald Trump on July 18, 2025, federal agencies were given one year to prepare the regulatory framework governing stablecoin issuance, licensing, reserve management, and supervision.

That transition period expires on July 18, 2026, leaving the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, and other financial regulators with just days to release the required guidance.

The upcoming rules are important for Circle because the company issues USDC, one of the largest stablecoins by circulation. As crypto.news previously reported, any changes affecting reserve standards, licensing requirements, or issuer obligations could influence investor expectations for Circle’s business and, by extension, CRCL stock.

July 18 rules could become the next catalyst

Regulatory attention arrives as lawmakers remain divided over the second major U.S. crypto market structure bill.

Prediction market platform Polymarket currently assigns a 45% probability to the CLARITY Act becoming law. The bill has faced opposition from banks, which argue that allowing companies such as Circle and Coinbase to offer yield on stablecoin balances could encourage customers to move money out of traditional bank deposits.

While Congress continues debating the CLARITY Act, investors are now focused on the rules tied to legislation that has already been enacted. Unlike the pending bill, the GENIUS Act requires regulators to publish detailed implementation guidelines before the statutory deadline.

Market participants will be watching whether the agencies introduce stricter capital, reserve, disclosure, or licensing standards that could affect stablecoin issuers operating in the United States.

Technical charts continue to favor sellers

CRCL shares traded around $63 on July 8 after falling 2.84% during the session as geopolitical tensions weighed on risk assets following President Trump’s statement that the Iran ceasefire had ended.

The daily chart also shows that the stock remains locked in a sustained downtrend. Price continues to trade below a descending trendline that has capped every recovery attempt since May, while the Supertrend indicator remains bearish with resistance near $82.

Technical support is clustered around $61.70, which coincides with the 100% Fibonacci retracement level visible on the daily chart. A confirmed break below that level through three consecutive daily closes could expose the February low near $49, extending the current decline.

Momentum indicators continue to support the bearish outlook. The Relative Strength Index has slipped to about 35, showing that sellers still control the trend even as the stock approaches oversold territory. Although an oversold reading can precede a rebound, the chart has yet to produce a confirmed reversal signal.

Coinbase shares have also weakened alongside Circle. COIN traded below the psychological $160 level after failing to clear resistance around $168, a rejection that interrupted the recovery that began at the end of June.

The Coinbase chart likewise points to continued caution. Shares remain below a descending trendline, while the Chaikin Money Flow indicator has stayed negative, suggesting capital continues to leave the stock.

If selling pressure persists, the next support sits near $149, followed by the June 26 low around $139. A sustained move back above $168 would be needed before the technical outlook begins to improve.

More than $500 billion has been wiped from U.S. stock markets after President Donald Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire effectively over and warned that Washington could launch fresh military action against Iran.

According to remarks Trump made to reporters, he no longer considers the ceasefire in effect, saying, “I don’t want to have anything to do with them anymore; they’re scum.” During separate comments at the NATO Summit, Trump also said the United States would “probably” strike Iran again later that night, reigniting fears of a broader conflict across the Middle East.

Those remarks came only days after indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators, with mediation from Qatar and Pakistan in Doha, had reportedly produced positive progress. Tuesday’s statements raised doubts about whether those diplomatic gains could survive.

Markets reacted immediately. U.S. equities fell sharply, crude oil climbed, and cryptocurrencies extended losses as investors moved away from risk assets. Trump’s remarks also drew attention because he mistakenly referred to Iran as the “Islamic Republic of Japan” while describing what he said was an attack involving 11 missiles against a U.S. aircraft carrier.

Oil and equities have reacted first to renewed geopolitical fears

Energy markets recorded one of the strongest reactions. Crude oil jumped about 5%, testing resistance near $75 after traders priced in the possibility of supply disruptions. If prices establish themselves above the $72 level, technical price action suggests oil could challenge $78 in the short term.

Wall Street also turned lower. The S&P 500 fell roughly 1%, the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%. Intraday trading pushed the S&P 500 down to around 7,429 before stabilizing slightly near 7,437.

Gold failed to benefit from the initial flight to safety, sliding about 2.5% from roughly $4,100 to $4,030.

Digital assets followed the weakness in equities. According to CoinGlass, 125,335 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations exceeding $385 million across the crypto market.

Bitcoin also extended its decline after already coming under pressure following reports that an oil tanker had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. The cryptocurrency was trading near $62,200 at the time of writing after failing to reclaim resistance around $63,200, a level that coincides with the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement on the daily chart.

Technical indicators also show Bitcoin remaining below its Supertrend resistance near $65,800 while continuing to trade beneath a descending trendline, suggesting sellers still hold the advantage. If geopolitical tensions intensify further, the next major support lies near $57,900, with intermediate support around $61,500.

Trump’s warning about Iran’s infrastructure has raised supply concerns

Alongside declaring the ceasefire finished, Trump outlined what he claimed the U.S. military could do if hostilities escalate further.

“The U.S. military could destroy all of Iran’s bridges, disable its electrical grid, and destroy its desalinization plants in one day,” Trump said.

Trump additionally discussed Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export terminal, saying U.S. forces had struck part of the facility the previous night and suggesting they could eventually control the entire island.

Kharg Island handles most of Iran’s crude oil exports, making it one of the world’s most important energy infrastructure sites. Any prolonged disruption there could reduce global crude supplies and keep upward pressure on oil prices.

As traders continue assessing Washington’s next move, developments around Iran’s oil infrastructure are expected to remain one of the main drivers for oil, equity, and cryptocurrency markets in the coming sessions.

Bitcoin (BTC) trades slightly above $62,000 and is down nearly 2% over the past 24 hours amid a risk-off mood across global markets. The pressure is not coming from crypto exclusively and is more so attributed to a sharp selloff in semiconductor and AI stocks. 

Renewed profit-taking from Samsung sent Asian markets reeling overnight, and military escalation between the US and Iran sent oil up around 5%. As a result, US stocks opened lower, and on Wednesday the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its June meeting, a report traders typically watch closely for clues on the timing of any rate cut. 

Currently, markets price roughly a 73% chance the Fed holds rates steady at its next meeting on July 29, but the major takeaway for investors will be how the tone of the minutes frames the Fed’s view on inflation and interest rates.  

Bitcoin buyers quickly became sellers 

Bitcoin’s cumulative volume delta (CVD) showed traders buying on Monday, with futures CVD adding about $585 million and spot CVD adding nearly $119 million, for a combined $705 million in net buying as BTC rallied above $64,000. 

By Wednesday, the mood had shifted to reflect traders’ apprehension and the need to cut risk ahead of oil’s advance, the semiconductor selloff and the pending release of the Fed minutes. Futures market selling accelerated to nearly $500 million and spot followed with a $86 million sell volume. 

BTC/USD spot and futures CVD. Source: Hyblock

Bitcoin’s funding rate and open interest dropped, reflecting traders’ choice to cut positioning, but the week-long trend of positive funding rates remains intact. 

BTC/USD funding rate, open interest. Source: Hyblock

Liquidations have also stayed relatively small in dollar terms, but they are one-sided. Wednesday’s forced selling was almost entirely on the long side, with roughly $47 million in long liquidations versus about $4 million in short liquidations. 

Hyblock’s liquidation data shows a large cluster of long positions near $61,000 and if Bitcoin trades down into that zone, those forced sales can briefly accelerate the move lower. 

A trend reversal is not confirmed 

Although Bitcoin bulls put in a good effort, absorbing dips to $60,000 and below, and fresh flows from spot markets and BTC ETF buying show investor appetite in the current range, the bulk of the price move remains driven by futures activity. 

Wednesday’s price action demonstrates how fast conviction and price can unravel when the primary fuel behind the move is futures-driven, and sentiment across the crypto market remains in the “fear” category according to the Crypto Fear & Greed index.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me

Beyond the geopolitical and Fed-related impact on intra-day price action, Strategy’s recent sale of 3,588 BTC and the fact that Bitcoin’s current price is below its $74,582 average price have cast an ominous cloud over the wider market as investors grapple with the reality that the largest BTC treasury could become a frequent seller. 

Nasdaq halted trading in Sadot Group (SDOT) five times this morning as its shares collapsed as much as 72% from yesterday’s close.

The plunge followed a report from short-seller Fugazi Research, which declared that the company has “no meaningful fundamental value and is unsuitable for investment.”

The Nasdaq-listed agri-food company, once a burger chain known as Muscle Maker Grill, still has large financial obligations and evidently collapsing investor confidence.

By late morning in New York, the stock changed hands near $14, down about 65% from Tuesday’s $40.00 close. It briefly traded down to an intraday low of $11.01, or 72% below its 4pm price yesterday.

Each plunge tripped Nasdaq’s trading breakers, designed to maintain orderly market pricing.

As the volatile and relatively small company has swung wildly over the past few weeks, Nasdaq’s limit-up and limit-down circuit breakers have interrupted SDOT trading on roughly a dozen business days since early June.

From burgers to commodities trading

Fugazi Research’s report frames Sadot’s serial reinventions as “monkey-branching” across flimsy businesses. The report’s title derided the company, reading, “Raise Money, Change the Story, Sell Nothing, Repeat.”

The short-seller’s central allegation is that after all of Sadot’s pivots “there is no longer an operating business generating revenue.”

Sadot Group began as Muscle Maker, Inc., a fast-casual restaurant operator, rebranding in 2023 as a global agricultural commodities trader. It positioned itself alongside giants like Cargill and Bunge. 

That trading arm booked $132 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2025. One year later, for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, that division reported $0.

Pivots came fast. Sadot sold Muscle Maker Grill and its Pokémoto restaurant brands to Marv Brands in December 2025.

It lost a food farm to a court judgment the same month. 

Next, it sold its last trading unit, Sadot Latam LLC, on June 26 for $1,000 in cash plus a share of receivables it does not expect to collect.

As the company pivoted its strategic direction, its balance sheet persisted and deteriorated.

Read more: This penny stock pivoted to Solana and Hyperliquid and lost 99.9%

Sadot Group’s lopsided balance sheet

The company’s Q1 filing shows total liabilities of $60.8 million against total assets of $2.4 million, a shareholders’ deficit of $58.4 million, and discloses substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.

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Management, meanwhile, have been busy diluting shareholders to try to rescue the failing enterprise. In early June it acquired a UAE software company and its trading platform for a headline $12 million, payable almost entirely in stock.

It also took a six-month option on a $125.5 million California real estate portfolio, again payable in stock.

These dilutive events for shareholders have decimated its long-term stock price. Sadot has executed three reverse stock splits within the past two years, most recently a 1-for-20 reverse split on May 27. 

Shares have lost 90% of their value over the past 12 months, and 99% over the past five years.

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Distressed companies use the reverse split maneuver to manufacture a share price above Nasdaq’s $1 minimum bid requirement per share. 

Not enough stockholder equity

However, using reverse splits is not enough to stay listed. Separately, Nasdaq has warned that the company no longer meets its minimum stockholders’ equity rule, and also flagged it in April for filing its annual report late.

Nasdaq’s minimum equity requirement is “either a market value of listed securities of $35 million or net income from continuing operations of $500,000 in the most recently completed fiscal year or in two of the last three most recently completed fiscal years.”

It’s not a particularly high bar for a publicly traded company, yet Sadot Group is certainly struggling to meet it.

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Nor is it particularly difficult for a public company to file annual reports on time, but Sadot failed to do that, too.

Fugazi Research also cited a near-term, upcoming catalyst as a possible date of reckoning.

On August 13, Sadot Group is due to release its Q2 earnings announcement. When it discloses results for this quarter, Fugazi Research predicts, the company could disclose that it doesn’t have an operating business generating revenue.

For now, the Nasdaq tape is recording the panic among traders vying for position ahead of the company’s upcoming disclosures about its good, bad, or possibly non-existent Q2 revenue.

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SDOT traded as high as $106 intraday on July 2 and closed yesterday at $40.

Shares hit an intraday low of $11.01 today, and its terrifying 52-week range spans from $460 down to $2.63.

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via Protos Leaks. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on X, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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Bitcoin (BTC) stayed below $62,000 after Wednesday’s Wall Street open as US president Donald Trump closing a key world oil route.

Key points:

• Bitcoin drops to $61,500 as Trump says that the ceasefire with Iran is “over.”
• Both sides reportedly threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring.
• Bitcoin traders anticipate new lows, but analysis sees Trump sweetening the mood later.

Bitcoin gives back gains as Trump says Iran ceasefire “over”

Data from TradingView showed daily BTC price downside circling 2.5% as markets reacted to the collapse of the US-Iran ceasefire.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump said about the ceasefire during a press conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

Additional reports claimed that both the US and Iran were considering reimposing a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz oil route.

US WTI crude oil passed $75 per barrel on the day, reaching its highest levels since June 22.

CFDs on US WTI crude oil four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The latest events had an instant impact on expectations over financial policy moves by the US Federal Reserve.

The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed increasing odds of an interest-rate hike coming at the Fed’s September meeting, with July’s still tipped to see rates stay at current levels.

Fed target rate probabilities (screenshot). Source: CME Group

Users on prediction service Kalshi, meanwhile, put the odds of a hike in 2026 at 55%.

Trader names $61,000 as “crucial” BTC price level

Commenting, crypto trader and analyst Michaël Van de Poppe predicted a retest of $61,000 for Bitcoin.

Related: BTC speculators in focus as analysis says ‘textbook Bitcoin bottom’ is underway

“This to happen, and then 1-2 days later; we’re in talks again. And the markets reverse,” he wrote in a post on X.

Earlier, Van de Poppe said that there was “no problem” visible in BTC price action.

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“Price remains hovering above $60,000, despite the fact that the Middle East has reactivated the War again. Other than that, as long as it remains a relatively shallow correction, I don’t think we’ll start to see lower levels in the markets,” he wrote. 

“The crucial level for me is the $61,000 area.”

BTC/USDT one-day chart. Source: Michaël Van de Poppe/X

Among traders, anticipation was building over a trip to new local lows.

“Tensions with Iran flaring up again just as $BTC tried to reclaim the previous range lows. Starting to look like we’re getting those cheaper accumulation opportunities we were hoping for,” trader Jelle told X followers.

BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Jelle/X